Space Dementia
by loudmist
Summary: James rescues a woman who turns the ship towards a new path, setting off a zig-zag of dominoes. This and more U.S.S Enterprise. (M for language and later content.)
1. Chapter 1

_Hello all! Thanks for clicking!_

_This is set after the 2009 reboot. This takes place between that and the current 2013 film. _

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**Chapter 1**

"Ok guys, set phasers to stun but keep them holstered, we don't wanna start anything. Sulu, have that sword-whatever ready, and Spock... keep that left hand free," Kirk whispered the second they were on the ship. He opened his communicator. "Scotty, keep track of ours and the hostage's signals, I want to be able to get out quickly."

"Yes, Captain."

Earlier that day, Uhura received a stress signal of a frightened woman worried for her life and repeating that she was being held captive. The signal was cut short but Uhura was quick enough to determine coordinates. It was a lone ship, and the nearest planet was Caldonia. The warp to the planet lasted 2 hours. They tried contact with the ship, but there was no answer. After a heavy hour of complaining with Spock, Kirk 'illogically' decided they would beam onto the ship. In Spock's words, they were trespassing upon a ship that had potentially dangerous consequences.

The ship seemed empty, quiet and desolate. But then Spock turned his head a fraction of an inch, and James knew something was up.

Spock's eyes were closed and soon he opened them as he held up both of his hands and showed six flexed fingers. Kirk inhaled and exhaled quietly. It was a big group, but he was ready.

"Is the girl okay?" Kirk whispered, not even sure he could hear himself. Spock shook his head, and Sulu cursed in Japanese as Kirk closed his eyes tight.

"She's breathing. But from my guess of what you mean by 'okay', she is far from it," Spock whispered. James opened his eyes.

"Where are they?"

"Two doors down, in the dining and kitchen area," Spock said, and then James started moving. Spock caught him before he reached the doorway.

Thats when they heard the raised and slurred voices among heavy laughing. There were clinks of glasses and James thought he heard some soft jazz. He felt sick in his stomach.

Spock motioned for them to walk down a different hallway, and they came close to a different door leading to the same area. Kirk peeked around the bend, and saw that they had their backs to him.

Raucous laughter echoed around the room, disturbed only by a feminine voice, shrill with more anger than fear.

She wasn't crying. She was complaining.

And -James had no hard time noticing- she was only wearing a pair of jeans.

She struggled against hard hands and deliberate roughness until she was shoved, landing on her right hip on the hard floor. With her hands tied behind her back, she had no way to brace herself. She fell flat, but quickly struggled into a sitting position. James suppressed a growl and intended to stand up, but Spock grabbed him and held him down.

He was a womanizer, yes, but Kirk respected them all the same. And knowing what these men had probably done to the girl on the floor brought up repressed memories. He shook his head, and opened his eyes to look at Spock.

"It is clear that you are emotionally compromised to carry out this plan successfully. I suggest you beam back to the Enterprise now," Spock whispered.

"I think we should finish stripping her," one of the men said. The girl's bare feet peddled and slipped against the hard ground as she tried to move away from the group. They laughed some more and the one who'd spoken went onto his haunches in front of her. He caught her bare ankle, immobilizing her.

"On the contrary, this certain compromise of mine is going to let me carry out this plan perfectly," James whispered, his voice low as he turned back to Spock. He was ready to kick some ass, and he was ready now. "You can help me or not." He turned back to look into the room again and was just in time to see the woman's bare chest heave as she spat on the man who held her ankle.

Kirk was on his feet in an instant, striding into the room before Spock or Sulu could stop him. They both stoop up and walked into the room after him.

The six men, standing in a cluster, turned to look at the Captain with various expressions of astonishment, confusion and anger. They were slow to react, and Kirk realized the clinking of glasses he heard before were drinks. These buffoons were drunk.

"Romulans," Spock whispered so Kirk could hear.

One of the men, not wearing a shirt, reached behind his back.

"You." Kirk stabbed him with a fast lethal look as he pointed his phaser at him. "Touch that weapon and you'll regret it."

"I doubt that," the Romulan said, and he brought his hand around to bring it out but before he could even pull the trigger James ran forward and kicked out hard and fast. The force of his heel caught the man on the chin with sickening impact. He sprawled flat with a raw groan that dwindled into blackness. James heard two releases of Spock's phaser and turned around just in time to quickly punch a man with long hair. He punched the man again, and then decided to just shoot him. James felt like punching and kicking and bringing pain to these men with his own hands, but knew it would take longer, and knew Spock wouldn't allow it.

Sulu and Spock finished off the rest of the men as Kirk turned to the girl.

Kamira could hardly believe her eyes. One minute she'd known she would be raped and probably killed, and the fear had been all consuming, a live clawing dread inside her.

Now ... now she didn't know what had happened. Three men, all in Starfleet uniform, just walked into the room. Well no, that wasn't right. The first man didn't walk in. He strode in, and then started to overtake her abductors.

Her heart pounded in slow, deep thumps that hurt her chest and made it difficult to draw an even breath. The relief flooding over her in drowning force didn't feel much different than her fear had.

Her awareness of that man was almost worse. She felt awed and amazed and disbelieving. And those blue eyes… those blue eyes were looking right at her. They even seemed a little teary, and she didn't know what to think. He turned away, and let out a deep breath as he holstered his phaser, and the other two men did the same.

One of the saviors approached her. He was Vulcan, his eyebrows and ears gave it away.

"I am Spock, First Officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise. There is no need to fear us. We are here to help you."

The other man approached, equally cautious, but more gentle; human. He didn't say anything, just stood next to Spock and surveyed her bruised face with a frown. His eyes began to linger down, but he blushed and in full modesty turned away.

Kamira ached. Her body, her heart, and her mind. She long ago lost feeling in her arms, but everywhere else pulsed with relentless pain. The men had punched and kicked her around a bit. Her head was throbbing, and she knew there was blood on her face, she felt it. Kamira knew she wasn't decently covered, but with her hands tied tightly behind her back, she couldn't do anything about it. She felt self-conscious and vulnerable and ready to cry, so she did her best to straighten her aching shoulders, and looked back up to Spock. But instead of Spock, it was him. Her savior.

Just the sight of him, powerful and brave, gave her a measure of reassurance. He was just looking straight into her hazel eyes, his own blue eyes wet with… well, she wasn't sure why he was teary eyed. She licked her lips and fought off another wave of strange dizziness.

He peeled his shirt off over his head then stopped in front of her, blocking her from the others. Spock and Sulu took the hint and turned their backs. Kirk knew he might be surprising them, but this was no time to crack a pick-up line.

Kamira stared at his broad and toned chest. She started feeling dizzy again.

With a gentle touch, Kirk went down on one knee and laid his shirt over her bared chest. It was warm from his body. His voice was low as he spoke.

"I'm going to free your hands, just hold still a second, ok?"

Kamira didn't answer. She couldn't answer. She'd been scared for so long now. What seemed like months had only been a little more than a week. She was rescued now. She was safe.

Kirk didn't go behind her to free her hands, but rather reached around her while looking over her shoulder, blocking her body with his own. Absurdly she became aware of his scent, rich with the odor of sweat and a hint of pine. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the smell of him, on his warmth and strength and stunning ability. She felt a small tug and the ropes fell away. But as she tried to move, red hot pain rushed through her arms, into her shoulders and wrists, and she cried out in pain.

His face turned to worriedness and he touched her shoulders and let his hands go down her arms and to her hands, which he grasped within his own.

"Are you okay to move?" he asked. Kamira nodded softly, her eyes closed tight. With that, James reached forward again and tied his shirtsleeves in a knot so the shirt would stay put. He then wiped a tear off her cheek, and picked her up with ease. As he stood up, Kamira could only bring one arm to hang around his neck. The last thing she remembered was mustering enough energy to thank him before the blackness consumed her.

James Kirk couldn't help but smile.

He reached for his communicator.

"Scotty get us the hell out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

_Please review!_

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**Chapter 2.**

"Christ, they beat her up bad," Bones said as he scanned her with the tricorder.

"Tell me something I don't know, Bones," James said sternly as he laid the woman's body on the biobed in Sick Bay. He had refused to let her go the whole time, insisted he carry her. He looked at the her and sighed as he brushed away a few hairs that fell across her face. He remembered his mother's bruised face, looking so much like hers, and he blinked his eyes a few times and looked away.

"Did this girl stun you with something?" Bones asked as he brought out a scanner x-ray and turned it on. It had a clear blue screen the size of a flashcard and a few different light settings.

"No," James said, pulling off a fake laugh. "Why'd you say that?"

"She's unconscious, so instead of pickup lines you go for affection? Not even trying to feel her up; I'm proud," Bones said. He knew James, he went through the academy with him -hell- he was the reason that James was ever on-board the Enterprise in the first place.

But right now James was acting… off. The moment they beamed back on board, James was shouting orders through the communicator at him, telling him to assemble his best nurses and to get ready for anything. He was caring towards the random girl. Something happened on that ship, and Bones surprised himself with his curiosity and determination to find out what it was.

He scanned over her body, noticing bruises, cracked ribs, and a broken leg. He turned the scanner off and looked straight at James, who wasn't sure how to reply.

"It's a long story Bones. When you're feeling like a heart-to-heart, I'll tell ya," he said as he reached across the bed and slapped him on the shoulder.

"Thanks but no thanks," McCoy said. "Klipp!" he shouted, and a tall woman with her blonde hair pulled back in a messy bun came to his side.

She was frowning. "Bones, I told you, you gotta call me Milena," she said as she took the scanner from McCoy's hand and scanned the girls body herself. "I'm gonna need some splints and bandages over here!" she shouted over her shoulder as she placed her hands on the patient's ribs and began to feel around gently.

"Dammit Kl-_Milena_, _I'm _Chief Medical Officer here. I do the shouting," McCoy said to her. She laughed, and Bones' right side of his mouth lifted a little. Bones turned away to set the scanner down somewhere else and got the tricorder again, just for a double check. James looked at him weirdly, but Bones just glared back at him.

"And the complaining," she said. "And the muttering, and the-"

"Aright, I get it," McCoy said. He grabbed the bandages and splints from a male nurse and ordered him off.

Milena reached forward and her hands brushed his when she took the splints from him. She smiled as his eyebrows furrowed.

"Just telling the truth… Chief," she said, slowing the word down. Milena loved getting on McCoy's nerves. She tried anything she could to get that handsome face to frown, smile, squirm, laugh, etc. That's why she was so used to talking back at him. She wasn't even worried about his threats to throw her out because she knew herself she was good. And at times McCoy would even compliment on her work.

She looked up from the girl's leg to peek at McCoy and tried not to laugh. His mouth was partly open as he stared at her in shock. She reached forward again and brushed his hands a second time as she got the bandages from him. She unwrapped the roll and began to wrap her leg, but McCoy intercepted her hands clumsily and took over.

"Milena, is it?" Kirk asked.

"Yes, Captain," she said as she grabbed the plasctercod from under the bed.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked worriedly. McCoy looked up at him like he was a completely different person. He looked to Milena, who looked unsure on how to answer.

"Let him… I guess you can let him use the cortilivion," Bones said, and he continued to wrap her leg.

He finished, and then Milena turned the plastercod on. She spanned the machine over the bandage, and soon the bandage bubbled and then set into a plastered cast.

"Get the Viagon-Version 2, approximately 60 milligrams, and that should help her ribs," he said to Milena.

"No problem, _Chief_," she said, and went to get the medicine.

Bones watched her every step as she walked away.

"I like her! What the hell is cortilivion?" James interrupted his thoughts. Bones looked back to the Captain, and brought out a little jar.

"It helps the bruises. Use it sparely, a little goes a long way," he said. He then went to check on a few other patients.

Jim looked at the jar, and back to the woman, and shrugged. It was the least he could do, he guessed. He took off the lid, and scooped a bit of the blue cream onto his fingers. He looked at her body, unsure where to start first.

He started at the leg, rubbing it onto her black and blue skin which was soft to the touch. There were a few on her arms, then realized that she still had on his shirt. He had gotten an extra in the hustle of getting the woman to sick bay, but McCoy didn't bother to put her in a proper shirt. He hesitated, but then reassured himself. They probably kicked her stomach, too. There had to be bruises. He lifted the shirt up, folding it back to cover her respectfully, and saw there was a large black and blue and red bruise. He got a large goop of the cream, and rubbed it on softly, his fingers moving in circles around the spot.

Without warning, she awoke with a large cry.

"No, please no!" she cried out, but James reached for her hand, and she jerked away, but when she looked at him, she relaxed.

"I'm here. It's ok now. Nobody is going to hurt you," James said as she grabbed her hand. She squeezed back. He looked at her teary eyes, and tried to smile.

"It's… _you_," she said, unsure what to say. She looked to her stomach, and looked back at him.

"It's uh, a cream, to help the bruises. Really, it is," Kirk said. He wiped the rest of the stuff on his fingers on the bed, and pulled the shirt down. She sighed heavily, coughed and rested her head back on the pillow, never taking her eyes off of the Captain.

"Ka…" she coughed more, her throat and her lungs hurt a lot. "Kamira."

"James," he said. "Or Jim," he said, not wanting to tell her exactly yet who he really was.

"Oh, she's awake?" McCoy said as he walked back with the medicine. Kamira looked at bones, and she closed her eyes and let out a laugh.

"Hey, is everybody on this ship good-lookin'?" she asked, half serious and half joking. McCoy let out a hearty laugh and James laughed as well. He was surprised she would even try to joke now.

"You're supposed to say stupid things _after_ I give you the medicine," McCoy said, and without warning he pointed the injector at her neck and pulled the little trigger. She cried out in pain as she closed her eyes tight. James sighed, and winced himself when she squeezed his hand painfully tight. Then without warning, she fell limp.

"Jesus, Bones!" Kirk said a little louder than he intended. He let go of her hand, and turned to the doctor.

"She needs rest, Captain. Get to the Bridge, she's fine," McCoy said. Right then the main ship intercom beeped on.

"_Captain to the Bridge. We've got company_," Spock's voice reverberated throughout the ship.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"What's the situation?" James said loudly as he walked through the sliding doors and onto the bridge.

"They're circling us, Captain," Sulu said.

"Come again?" he asked as he walked the front window to see if he could catch a glimpse of the ship.

James wanted to warp the hell out of there, but Scotty said the machine's energy levels needed to reboost with fluctuating whatever, so instead James had them move a few or so miles away.

"Instead of opening fire, it seems they are attempting the approach of intimidation," Spock said. "Nyot- Lieutenant Uhura has spent the last ten minutes trying to open a channel, but they have been denying our hails.

"But it's a simple _battle_ ship. They haven't even heated up their weapons?" James asked, turning to his crew.

"They have power, but they haven't fired anything yet," Sulu said.

"So, ve can't fire, ve can't communicate… what should ve do?" Chekov asked.

"And, might I add Captain, by the look of the ship, it has acquired a lot of damage. That may be the reason that they are not opening fire," Spock added.

"Captain, I've managed to reach them," Uhura announced. James gave her the nod, and she touched a few keys and the crew looked to the big screen. It was the big Romulan he had kicked.

James sighed. "This is Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. What is your reason for following us?"

"You have something of ours, _Captain_," he spat at the screen.

"_She_ is no long yours. My crew and I simply took action to ensure the safety of a hostage after receiving a distress signal," James replied, trying not to get angry.

"Actually, we bought her, fair and square, on the Orion Slave Trade. Feisty little bitch, but we getting on our way towards discipline." James closed his eyes, and then looked to Spock for help.

"I am Spock, First Officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise. We are willing to compensate the price of your purchase-"

"You have ten minutes to return our rightful property, or we open fire." The screen turned off, and James saw the stars through the window.

"Permission to speak freely, Captain."

"Go ahead Spock," James said as he rubbed his temples.

"I want to suggest that we return her, but I know you will ignore me. Sir, none of this would've happened if you had simply just used the phasers instead of aiming towards heroics and using physical attacks," he said. James opened his mouth to reply, but wasn't sure what to say.

"How do we know that he isn't lying, Captain?" a woman's voice was heard. James turned to where Chekov and Sulu were sitting. She was standing between the two, her arms crossed over her chest as she titled her black curly haired head.

"And you are…?"

"Shea Wyatt, Captain. I'm the new yeoman for these two," she said, uncrossing her arms to rest her hands on both Sulu's and Chekov's shoulders. Sulu grinned as Chekov looked down and actually blushed.

James looked to Spock. "Why doesn't anybody tell me these things?" he asked rhetorically. He looked back to the yeoman, who was now sitting down at a small station next to Chekov, whose cheeks were still red. "Lying about what, exactly?" James asked.

"Well, I mean he could be lying about her being a slave. Look at the sick bastard, 'xcuse my French, but really- and no offense Officer Spock, towards your relatives- but Romulan's wouldn't pay for a slave when they can just kidnap some defenseless girl," she explained.

Kirk looked at her for a while, and Spock was first to speak out.

"That is a very reasonable query, Yeoman Wyatt. Captain," Spock said, as he brought his hands behind his back and started a somewhat routinely walk around the bridge whenever he was hypothesizing about a problem. He started towards Uhura's station, and she stood up. As one of the Junior Science officer's contemplated something aloud, James watched as Spock took Uhura's hand and took one slower step until he had to let it go. She smiled to herself, and put her hand down at her side as though nothing happened.

"Well, is anybody up for a little game of chase?" James asked charmingly as he looked back to Chekov and Sulu. Spock cleared his throat, but James waved his hand. "Oh come on, Spock. Do you really want to deal with the Federation right now?" Spock just kept on staring at the Captain, who sighed, and turned to his helmsmen.

"Sulu, fire at their weapons, we'll send some red suits to retrieve the prisoners," Kirk said with a sigh.

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_*sorry this is going on slowly. I've hit this big speedbump and I'm unsure on where to go with this story!_

_As always please tell me if I'm getting something wrong in the fandom, I've done the best searching I could_


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you all for the favorite story alerts and author alerts and REVIEWS, it means a lot!

It's a short one but I know where the story is going for a while, and this is a push to get it there! Please review or even comment on what you liked or didn't like!

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_**Chapter 4**_

The captors did put up a fight, but eventually the red-suits got them into the brig, even though there was a broken arm and a few more minor injuries. Kirk didn't want to go to retrieve the new prisoners because he would probably go back to, as Spock called it, 'heroics and physical attacks'.

Now, James was in the sickbay, sitting quietly next to a sleeping Kamira as he watched the chaos going on. Cupcake was getting some cuts on his face patched up, and his two buddies were being checked over by nurses. Milena was splinting a broken finger, and McCoy was at the biobed next to him, fixing a broken arm.

"Damn machine!" McCoy grumbled as he shook the plastercod that refused to work. James looked away from checking Kamira's bruises to see what was wrong. Before he could say anything Milena was next to McCoy, taking the plastercod from him.

"You don't just shake her around, Leon. Katie just needs a little tender loving care in the right place," Milena said, and she pressed a few of the buttons, and then hit the bottom with the heel of her hand. It beeped and then the light on top turned green. McCoy raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't surprised about her calling him Leon. She's started that a week ago, and truthfully the doctor didn't hate the nickname..

"Katie?" he asked. Milena gave a smile as she tightened her ponytail and rested a hand on her hips.

"Yes, I name some of the medical tools. Deal with it," she said, and then walked off to check on Cupcake.

"Didn't say I had a problem with it," McCoy mumbled to himself as he scanned 'Katie' over the officer's arm and turned it off when the bandages started to bubble and set.

In fact, McCoy didn't have a problem with Milena at all. People usually acted shy around him. Only Milena pushed him and he didn't mind at all. It was refreshing for a woman to talk back to him whenever he made his rude remarks. She called him Leon, or Chief of Doc. But never Bones. Usually people would gawk at his boldness or just say nothing and go along their work quietly. Never Milena. She talked back, called him names, and generally was the only other doctor or nurse that _knew_ him. And she was the only doctor that he _knew_, too.

"You got it bad, Bones," Kirk interrupted his thoughts. The doctor turned on his friend, and nodded towards the Captain's damsel.

"Look who's talkin', buddy," he said.

"Shut up, Doctor. Get back to work," the captain mumbled as he stood up and without looking back at Kamira, left the bay and headed towards the bridge.

James was in the turbolift when his communicator beeped.

"Kirk here."

"Captain, its Scotty. The Warp Pylons are back on full power, we're ready to go."

"Ah, that sounds great Scotty. I gotta talk to the Federation to know what to do with the bastard prisoners, I'll let you know when we need ya."

"All right, Captain."

"Kirk out," he said and then pocketed the communicator as the doors slid open and he walked towards his chair.

"We've gotten through the Admiral Pike," Nyota said, and Kirk gave her the nod and soon Admiral Pike was on the screen

Quickly, Kirk described the situation while keeping a straight face and trying to mirror Spock's finesse in keeping emotion out of his voice and posture.

"It seems this is just a simple kidnap and sexual harassment case. Judging by your location you can warp to Interment Camp 137. Have either you or Spock fill out the necessary regulatory pages for a report, and I'll make sure the Interment Camp has some cells for your prisoners."

"Understood Admiral, Kirk out."

At that Pike laughed before the channel was closed. Kirk told Chekov to get on their way, and he stood up but Spock was already there, holding out a fist.

"Best two out of three?" the Captain asked.

"Yes," Spock answered.

With palms out, they pounded their fists twice, and then Spock showed a flat palm, and Kirk held two fingers out.

"Ha!" Kirk said victoriously.

"You forget that we are performing the best two out of three trials."

Kirk's smile disappeared, and they played again, but Spock held out a fist and Kirk a flat palm.

"Sorry buddy," James said as he slapped Spock's shoulder. He just scowled.

"As I said, this is a peculiar game that comes to the conclusion without argument."

"But you agreed to it. You better rush through 'em, dinner's in 30 minutes."

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Reviews make me happy and a happy writer writes!


	5. Chapter 5

_I AM SO SORRY!_

_I'm starting my freshman year at college and this past week has been moving in and orientation chaos!_

_I hope this chapter makes up for it, I had a lot of fun writing it!_

_I just also wanted to say thank you for all of the reviews and alerts! it means alot!_

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**Chapter 5**

Dinner. His favorite meal. Well, all meals were his favorite, but for Scotty, he looked forward to nights. Dinner was always the best meal. He didn't know why, he couldn't really explain it. It was probably the proportions. Or the addition of desert.

He was always early to the Eating Hall on the ship. Usually the first one.

After being stranded at that blasted station for six freezing and wet months, he learned to appreciate every meal.

He had already filled his plate with a chicken salad and a piece of garlic bread and turned around to go back to get a second plate for more food. He took one step, looking down at the warm and inviting bread, when something jabbed into his hip and then there was a shriek. Then there was a squishy noise, and he felt wet and hot all over. He blinked a few times, and looked down when he heard a whine.

There was spaghetti: a lot of it, everywhere, including on himself. The big pile in front of him groaned and it moved a little. He bent down to it.

"Hello?" he asked the pile.

"Agh, merde!"

Scotty stood straight and looked around. There was no one else in the room.

"Am I goin' crazy?" He looked down at the pile again.

But then a hand reached up out of the pile and grabbed at itself, and suddenly Scotty saw a face. A faint smile and light brown eyes- a woman he hadn't seen before, looked up at him.

"Afraid not, uh, mister. Just clumsy little -well not so little- but clumsy me!" she said, and then tried to stand up amongst the pile of spaghetti. Scotty held out a hand and she pushed off the ground with her other as he helped her stand up, and that's when Scotty got a good look at his spaghetti pile.

She was wearing a now stained red apron, her hair mainly consisted of spaghetti but he saw golden springy locks poking out here and there. She had a bright smile and a curvy body.

"I- uh- I vas just … um, bringing? This to ze main eh, tableau, but I actually didn't even see you zere, sir."

"Why are ye calling me sir?" he asked. She had a faint French accent, he thought.

"You, uh, you have zat pin," she said. "You're a commanding officer."

"Please, just call my Scotty."

"Je suis regrette... uh, Scotty. I am sorry…?" she said as she looked at him, smiling widely and never breaking eye contact. "Please excuse my rough Englais," she said.

"Ah, no it's ok. It's a tough language. I bet French is too, right?" he said, smiling a bit as well as he reached forward and grabbed a bunch of spaghetti off her hair and flung it to the floor. She blushed and he smiled even more when she reached over to him to flick some sauce off his neck.

Scotty opened his mouth to say something when there was a shout. Well, more like aloud shrill.

"Number five!"

French Spaghetti girl looked over her shoulder and sighed. She looked back to him, and then at the pile.

"I'm in deep… crappe?" she said, and then she turned around as she yelled out "I'll be right zere!"

"You're name is Number Five?" Scotty asked in confusion.

"No, uh, zat's what ze Witc- I mean, zat's what Maurice, ze head cooke, calls us elpers. She's says zat it's she's too busy and always working zat she doesn't have time to learn our names, but we know she just zinks she's too good. I'm new, so I am number five," she explained as she kneeled down and started scooping the mess back into the big metal pans that she was carrying. Scotty kneeled down and helped her with the mess.

"Number five!" Maurice shrieked again, and then a tall and very thin woman came out from the kitchen, but stopped short at what she saw. "What happened here?" she said, and her cheeks turned red in anger.

"It was my clumsiness, Maurice, darling. I'm very sorry," Scotty said before 'Number Five' could speak. He stood up, holding the pans now dirty spaghetti. He knew the supposedly head cook by name because he would always compliment and request for repeats of her best foods. Now he guessed he had to help the actual people who cooked it: French Spaghetti girl and her co-workers.

Maurice's eyes stop glaring, and she eased her smile as she turned to Scotty.

"Oh, Montgomery, it is alright… well for your inconvenience, help Five get to the waste in the back of the kitchen. After that I want both of you to go clean up." She turned around and then sauntered back to wherever she came from.

Scotty smiled down at Number Five, who smiled back, gazing at him for a second before she cleared her throat and then stood up straight. She took one of the pans from Scotty and motioned her head for him to follow her. They walked through the busy kitchen and came upon a black door. She punched a few keys in the keypad and the door slid open.

He looked around the black room, and then to the big rectangular hole in the middle. She came up the edge and turned the pan over, dumping out the spaghetti. Scotty came up right next to her and did the same.

He looked at her, and saw some more spaghetti stuck in her curls. He reached out and picked every piece off of her as she blushed and avoided his eyes.

"There. Now I can realle see you," Scotty said. And he was glad he could. She smiled, making dimples in her cheeks and he smiled back. Her smile was contagious, he couldn't help it.

"Wanna see some-zing cool?" she whispered quietly. Scotty nodded. She ran to the entrance and pressed a few keys on the exit pad, and then pressed a red button to the right. Scotty heard a click echo from the hole, and he looked down just I time. Suddenly the spaghetti was consumed in flames, then there was a pop, and the flames were gone.

"Woah!" he yelled, and she laughed.

"It's great, isn't it? I mean ze smell is horrible I know, but ze fire is just so cool! I always want ze waste-room duty," she said. Without looking she pressed a few more keys on the exit keypad and the door slid open again.

"Lets go get cleaned up!" she said.

They walked to the turbolift in silence. They both got out on the same floor, and he offered to walk her to her room but she declined.

"I'll be ok, zanks," she said as she smiled. He nodded, and wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry zat I bumped into you like zat. I mean, I was just working quickly so I could grab a few pieces of extra garlic bread cause I was zinking of making a spaghetti and meatball sandwich. I know it sounds weird, but I like playing around with foods to come up with somezing new," she said quickly.

"Who are you?" he asked bluntly and curiously. He'd never come upon a girl who… well let's just say he'd never really met a girl like her.

"Um. Well, you can call me Number Five," she said sarcastically. "But most people call me Kira."

"Kira. That doesn't sound very French, does it?" he asked. She laughed and shrugged.

"My dad was from America, it was his mozers name."

"Ah, well Kira, it was great bumping into you, despite the mess," he said, holding out a hand. She let out a laugh and shook his hand slowly, and then took a while to let go.

"Maybe next time won't be so messy, Scotty," she said, and then gave him one last smile, and walked away quickly.

* * *

_As always, please review!_

_*I hope you are ok with Kira's accent! If it's too hard to read I can just type it regularly and have a few defining French accent moments, or just type it regularly altogether and you all just imagine her with a French accent? What do you say?_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Thank you so much for the reviews!**_

_This may seem like a filler but I wanted to play around more with Milena and Bones. :]_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

The warp to the camp was going to take two days, surprisingly.

McCoy liked to hold general check-ups on his staff, to make sure that they stayed like the good doctors and nurses he recruited onto the ship. The test was to perform a general physical on a crewmember. Some doctors got two crewmembers, some nurses three, but there was only one doctor and one crewmember left. He looked at his clipboard, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Send Captain Kirk to sickbay, it's time for his physical," he said reluctantly into the main Medical Bay communicator. There was reluctance in his voice because-

"Ooh, I get the captain. This should be interesting," Milena said as she looked at the clipboard. McCoy caught a whiff of her usual lavender scent and snatched the pad away from her view.

"Don't need to say it twice, Milena," he said, as he walked over to a biobed to make sure all the right tools were there.

He had finally given up on calling her by her formal and official name. Since she was the Junior Medical Officer, he was calling 'Doctor Klipp' everyday, and everyday he would hear her persistent "Call me Milena!", so he finally gave in. Her smile never faltered the first day he called her by her first name.

"Hey, Leon, you know what I noticed?"

"What, exactly?" McCoy asked, and he turned around and flinched because she had walked over to him and was now standing closer than he was used to.

"I don't have a nickname," she said smiling coyly. Leonard tried not to look down her uniform, so instead he cleared his throat and stepped back.

"How about 'crazy woman', that seems to suit you."

"Nah, that's Nurse Perry's nickname, even though she doesn't know it," she said, and she reached over to touch the tricorder. "I mean, I name everything you know, everything," she said, and turned back to look at Leon. "And I'm just simple Milena."

"Oh, trust me, you are anything BUT simple!" McCoy said under his breath, and Milena raised an eyebrow. "But," he recovered, "I'll call you Lena." At that, she smiled.

"That sounds awesome! Oh, that's so great!" she said. They shared a silent moment, but when she looked back to the table, but then frowned.

"Wait, where's Waldo?"

"Um, in a children's book?"

"Ha ha, but no," Milena said, and she brushed past McCoy as she went over to the tool cabinet. She opened the doors, and looked around. "Waldo's a neural monitor."

"We're gonna have to labels these things with your names, I guess," McCoy wondered aloud, and Lena gasped.

"Wait, are you serious? Ooh, found him!" She reached far back into the cabinet, and then came back to the biobed and table. She placed 'Waldo' on the table, and turned on Leonard with a cynical look. "You're just making fun of me, Leon. You always do these days," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

That was true; McCoy was making fun of her. He was always making his usual witty comments that either put a person or their opinion down, but he was giving the worst to Milena because he didn't want to admit that he _liked_ her. She was a tamer, not as angry and not as crass version of himself. And, she was a woman. She was beautiful and funny and she was somebody he liked being around.

"I'm serious. Let's give your buddies name tags," he said. Milena looked at him without saying anything, so he decided to continue. "And about the whole… uh, making fun of thing," he took a step forward, trying to think of a good excuse, "my uh, ex has been giving me hell about getting rid of some of my stuff she found in the basement-"

"Oh, the ex. Say no more, Leon. When is that bitch going to leave you alone?" she asked, and McCoy laughed.

"Lena, that is what I ask myself almost every day," he said, and he went back to his regular stern look when Lena walked a little closer to him than usual.

"I like _this _type of Leon."

"Which one, may I ask?" he asked, trying not to be interested.

"The nice Leon. The one that comes up with a nickname for me and decides to officially name the tools," she said, and she stepped even closer.

Milena was going crazy. She wasn't acting like herself. She never did when she was around Leonard. He was driving her crazy because when he made fun of her, the way he looked at her was always this hot look. And because of that hot look he gave her, it got her all flirty. Or at least she thought she was flirty. Really she would only get as close as she could to him. He smelled like a different type of hard liquor mixed with pine every day. And as it looked like to her, he didn't mind to be this close to her at all.

But as usual, he stepped back.

"Where's that damned-"

"No need to get testy, Bones, I'm here," the Captain said as he strolled into Sickbay. He looked at the two doctors, and flashed a smile.

"Ah, the miss is going to give the physical? This is going to be fun," he said as he strolled over to the biobed and hopped on top of it. McCoy sighed and Milena walked forward.

"Captain, are you feeling well these days?" she asked as she took the tricorder, turned it on, and started scanning James.

"Yeah. And I'm feeling better now," he said, cracking a half-sided grin that worked on most of the ladies. Milena laughed, McCoy coughed, and James shrugged.

"Sorry Doc. I guess you could say that it comes natural," James said. Milena just shrugged as well.

"Maybe I should diagnose you with jackass syndrome," McCoy grumbled.

"Oh, please, Jackie?" Lena cried out. James and Bones looked to the doctor, who was shaking the scanner x-ray. She sighed, and put it back on the table. She walked over to a cabinet in a far corner, and came back with something McCoy wasn't even sure that they had anymore: a stethoscope.

"Don't get all giddy captain, and keep the pickup lines to a minimum, but I'm going to need to listen to your heart and your lungs, under your shirt."

"Oh, no worries. Plenty of ladies have been-" James started, but then stopped at McCoy's glare. "Uh, yhat's ok."

She put the stethoscope on and did the regular old-fashioned procedure during a pyshical. She checked his lungs, made sure his heartbeat was regular, etc. But James couldn't help himself. He spewed an array of pick-up lines as Leonard glared on and Milena tried not to crack a smile, and she had to resist to even flirt back. But she did do small things, like comment on James' eyes as she flashed lights in them, or his muscles when she had to measure blood pressure.

Finally, for McCoy, it was over soon.

"Well, I'm off to interrogate our prisoners, I've already visited Kamira earlier this morning," James said as he stood up from the biobed. "Dr. Klipp, you were fantastic, I'll sure to come back again," he said, and gave her a wink. She just sighed, and turned to take the scanner x-ray back to her small desk for a fixing.

"Lena," McCoy said, and she turned to smile at him. He looked angered and jealous, and her smile faltered.

"Try not to get too personal with the patients, alright?" he said in a more serious tone than usual.

"Don't worry, Chief," she said, trying not to smile. "No need to be jealous," she said, and then walked away to her desk, without looking back at Leonard's face of confusion.

* * *

_Hello readers!_

_It seems I loose ALOT of views after this chapter, if you could leave a review as to why, or what improvements you think can be made, please let me know! You can do anonymous if that is your style, I just want to improve the story!_


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm so sorry everybody! It's been two hectic months that I feared would never end and I would always be adding onto this chapter, trying to finish it, and at 1:36 am I finally did!_

* * *

**Chapter 7**

James nodded at the security officers as he stepped through the doors at the brig, and entered the cell that was holding the Romulan that threatened his ship, his crew, himself, and Kamira.

"We've got some things to discuss," James said as he walked in and sat on the cot. The Romulan was standing in the corner, hands by his side.

"I've nothing to speak of to you."

"Well, we need to talk about why you lied to me. You didn't buy the girl from a slave trade, did you?"

"So, the Captain is a thinker?" the Romulan asked.

"If you stray from the witty comments, I will do the same. Agreed?"

"I refuse to agree with you about anything."

Jamie sighed. This was going to take longer than he thought.

"Just tell me, please, why her?"

"Why her?"

"Yes, why did you buy her from a slave trade, if that's even true, and why did you come back for her when you could've gotten some other girl?"

At this, the Romulan tensed up.

"That bitch is now the last living relative of the man who killed my family. Slowly but one by one I have been able to get to his family, but this little bitch, along with her sister, were hard to find. When I kill her, my mission will be complete."

"Kam- there was only one girl we found on your piece of junk ship," Kirk said, confused. In the back of his mind something told him to dread what was to come next.

"The other one was getting annoying," the prisoner said with a smirk.

At that James Kirk lost it. He last all coherent and respectable thought. He lunged at the Romulan. He couldn't help it, he hated this… thing in front of him. He got a few punches to the Romulan's stomach before Kirk was shoved back with a good punch. He spit out some blood and then threw a punch, putting in all of his weight.

"Christ, Kirk, you just had a physical yesterday!" McCoy said as a red suit guided the newly wounded Captain through the sliding doors at the medical bay. He was cradling his right hand and had blood all over his face.

"That no-good, dirty, filthy, son of a bitch!" James yelled to no one as he tried to calm down. His hand hurt like _hell_. McCoy, of course, didn't care as he grabbed his captain's hand to inspect it. James yelled out in pain, but McCoy ignored it.

"You've broken two fingers, genius."

"I've figured that out, Bones. Are you going to do anything about it?" Kirk barked back, which surprised the doctor. Milena interfered.

"Captain, let's get you fixed up, ok?" she said walking forward and taking his hands in hers, with a gentle touch. McCoy, annoyed, turned on her.

"I can fix fingers myself thank you," he said.

"I've got this," she replied, arching her neck to get closer to his face. He breathed her in and decided he didn't want to bicker. Not today.

He sighed and walked away, leaving Milena to tend to the Captain.

She walked him over to a bio-bed that was next to Kamira's and got out the right tools and got to work on cleaning him up first.

"What did he say?" Milena asked.

"Who?"

"I'm guessing that you were talking to one of the prisoners. You wouldn't start a fight with one of your own crew, so it had to be one of them. What did he say?"

"He… he and them..." Kirk said brokenly, not sure how to explain. "She's all alone now. They… they destroyed her family. They killed her sister, and guessing by their barbarity, they probably did it right in front of her." James was on a roll now. He felt like he had to say what he needed and wanted to say. "Vulnerable. That's what she was. Usually I go after them because they're easy. But I looked into her eyes and she saw that I wasn't there to hurt her, and I… I needed to help her. I'm not even interested in her like that. I don't know her. I don't care that I've seen her without a shirt on. While on that ship, all I cared about was getting her out of there.

I respect women. I'm a womanizer yes, but I don't disrespect them. I don't harm them, I don't bruise them, I don't inflict physical pain.

That's what I grew up with, with my mom. She got hurt. A lot. And from then on I couldn't stand it when men didn't respect women. Whether it be treating them like they can't handle themselves, or even grabbing their arm when they don't want to be touched.

I respect women, don't I? I do, don't I?" he asked, looking at Milena, who was unsure how to reply.

So the stories were true, he just confirmed them. All of them. All the stories about him being a player, a guy who will leave you alone in bed.

But then there was his honor-ability. His dignity.

Milena looked down and realized she hadn't even gotten started on his hand. She moved to start cleaning the blood but Kirk's good hand interfered, and she looked up at him.

"I do, right?" he asked.

"Yes, you do, Captain."

"Kirk, call me Kirk. Or James."

"James, you do respect women in the sense that you don't hurt them, but only physically. You… you have the tendency to pick girls who are looking for something more than you are, you know what I mean?" she finished. She was right; she had many friends who had come crying to her, cursing James Kirk. "And the sexy smile and the constant flirting does not help," she added, trying to lighten the mood. At this James gave her the said smile and tilted his head.

"You think I have a sexy smile?" he asked. And Milena laughed and playfully punched his arm. He frowned and exaggerated an 'ow!' but he laughed too. Milena then rested her hand on her captain's shoulder, her face turning serious.

"James, you're going to be ok, and so is Kamira," she said. Then she was leaning forward and she wrapped her arms around him in a friendly embrace. At first James was shocked, he couldn't remember the last time he had been in a friendly hug. But then he smiled as he moved his arms to hug the doctor back, and he rested his chin on her shoulder as he closed his eyes.

James didn't know how long they were hugging, but Milena was the one to pull back and without another word she got started on his hand.

"I'm so stupid. I'm careless and I don't think before I act," James said quietly after he winced.

"You took action. Even though not everybody agrees that a fist isn't the answer, you did, and you used it. Action, Kirk. You took action. I like that in a man," she said surely. James opened his mouth to reply with a flirty comment, but Bones interrupted.

"It's about time, doc, it only took you fifteen minutes," he said, grabbing Kirk's hand to inspect her work.

Milena frowned and opened her mouth to say something but James interrupted.

"I think a certain doctor," he exaggeratedly looked at Bones, "needs a hug." He opened his arms wide and gave his friend a big smile.

"Bite me, Kirk," he replied. He turned around and took a step towards Milena. "Don't give him anything for the pain," he said and gave her a raised eyebrow before he walked away.

"He's gonna want another hug after he's seen what I did to the dirtbag," James said with a bright smile.


	8. Chapter 8

_Long time no see, eh?_

_Here's the next chapter, and dont worry, Sulu will be coming around soon._

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"All right guys, this should be simple," Kirk said at his assembled team as they all walked to the transporter pad.

Four red-suits were handling the prisoners, Chekov and Shea were following, with Milena and McCoy behind them, and Spock and Uhura in the back. "We are going to hand over the prisoners, McCoy will explain all medical information to whomever, Chekov and Shea will explain where exactly we captured the prisoners. Spock and I will be there to make sure it all runs smoothly, and of course, to lead the mission."

Shea grabbed Chekov's hand and he automatically blushed. He didn't have that much time down at the academy to mingle with girls, so he never really knew how to act around them. All he did with Shea was blush.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" she asked him quietly. He turned towards her concerned face, and didn't falter when he realized how close they were.

"Don't vorry, it'll be ok. The Captain is the best out there, this will go smoothly," he said as he squeezed her hand. She gave him a small smile and held onto his hand.

"Scotty, are we ready?" Jim asked as the doors slid open and the group made their way onto the pad.

"Not yet sir, sorry," the engineer said fustratedly.

"Don't forget to check Kamira's vitals every half hour, and then record-" McCoy rambled on to Lena, who had already taken the notes she needed.

"Leon, I've got it. Now go do a simple mission!" she cut him off. He closed his mouth and sighed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean what's wrong?"

"I mean that you won't stop letting out frustrated sighs and your fists keep on clenching and unclenching. What is wrong?" she said calmly as she tried not to laugh at McCoy's surprised reaction. He thought he could just come off as surly all the time, and that he wasn't showing his slight nervousness about a mission. Milena knew him better.

"Just nervous," was all he said.

"You'll be careful, wont you?" Nyota asked as he and Spock were the last to enter the room with the transporter pad.

"I am always careful, Nyota."

She smiled weakly, and gave him a lingering kiss before she stepped off the pad. She stood next to Milena and watched as Kirk said "energize" and they all disappeared in strings of light.

* * *

Scotty was early as always and was happy to find that the special today were sloppy-joes. He was late due to making sure that the Captain and the team were being monitored by his junior officer, and was tapping his fingers as he waited to get his hands on a plate.

He finally reached the plates, and was going to reach for a bun, but it was empty.

"Excusi!" he heard a voice, and he turned and smiled as he moved out of the way. Kira put down a new tray of the buns and took the empty tray.

"Kira!" he said.

"Oh, Scotty!" she said, smiling. "Enjoying some sloppy joes, I see."

Scotty smiled and shrugged. "Come and have one with me," he said suddenly. He nervously laughed but stopped abruptly because he thought it sounded girly. Kira gave him a sorry smile.

"I cant, you see I need to work," she said, and she sighed. "I really would love to, though."

"When do you get off work?" he asked.

"Um, in two hours," she said checking her old fashioned watch.

"Then I'll wait. We'll even add some of our own ingredients, how about it?" he said, and he put his plate back.

Kira smiled and nodded.

"Of course! Yes," she said, and then hurried off to work. The more she worked, the faster the time went for her. She began working like a fiend.

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_Short I know, but I'll post the next one up soon! _

_Q: Which characters do you all want to see more?_


	9. Chapter 9

_I've decided to give up the accents, I know I'm not doing it any justice._

_Sorry for the long break! Its too long to explain but I'm back and kicking, but want your guys' reviews and ideas and input! It fuels me for more writing!_

_This chapter has certainly been a long time coming, tell me what you think!_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Agh my fucking god! " McCoy yelled as he was brought in on a stretcher held by red suits. "God dammit!"

"What in the hell…?" Milena asked as she stood up from her desk, cluttered with vaccines.

Kirk came in next, supporting a green covered and stumbling Spock. Chekov limped in as he faltered under the weight of carrying an unconscious Shea in his arms, and four other red suits followed, looking bloodied and bruised as well.

"Lemme get some help in here!" Milena yelled loudly towards one of the wings.

"Dammit Klipp, I'm the Chief Medical Officer!" McCoy yelled in writhing pain as he was brought onto one of the beds. Milena had the tricorder out and was running scans as nurses and doctors rushed to the others.

"Sorry, Doc. Not today, at least. Right as of now, you are a patient. And as Junior Chief Medical Officer, I'm the next of order. So, I'm in charge." She put the tricorder down and got the hypospray to inject him with diamorphine because McCoy's eyes never stopped squinting and his mouth never faltered from the clenched straight line, and he wouldn't stop moving; Milena knew he was in a lot of pain. By the looks of the scans he had a few broken ribs on his left side, and somebody actually stabbed him with god knows what in his arm. His knee cap was dislocated as well.

"Dammit, woman!" he growled as she pulled the trigger and he felt a sting in his neck. She didn't say anything; she turned to where the Captain was getting his already beaten arm, now bruised and bloodied even more, in a cast.

"Now this is where you tell me why a simple prisoner transfer turned into this shitshow," she said sternly. She looked at McCoy, and tried not to think about him being nervous before they left. She felt mad at herself, what if Bones was killed, or too badly injured for saving? She turned away and looked at Jim. "Captain."

"Cardassian prisoners were able to take over of the whole place, and run it. It's basically turned into a colony. We found this out too late, though. We had already handed over the prisoners and I was talking to who I thought was the head Warden, but was just really a bastard in costume who decided to have his men attack us after McCoy managed to say my name, whom many of the prisoners knew. It was a disaster."

"I'm so glad you weren't there, Lena," McCoy said slowly and without his usual harsh tone. Milena turned and saw Leon's eyes were half closed, but they were glued on her. "I feel funny… What did you give me, Lena?"

"Diamorphine…" she said slowly. Why did he just say that? About her not being there? Why wasn't his brow furrowed in its usual place? He looked… calm. Content.

She sighed and grinned. He was high.

"I get weird side effects with Diamorphine."

"I've noticed," Milena said, and then looked back to Jim but McCoy kept talking.

"You've got a cute ass, Lena. You should wear tighter skirts; show it off more when you walk around."

At that, Kirk burst out laughing as Milena turned and stared. She wanted to say something, give a witty remark, but nothing came to mind. She just ignored the heat in her cheeks as Kirk looked at her, and then back at McCoy, and then began laughing again.

She moved across the room where there was shouting and a lot of movement; any distraction would be heaven now.

"Take care of her! Take care of her! I'm fine!"

Milena looked to the one making noise. It was Chekov, he sometimes came to eat at the same table during meals in the cafeteria hall. McCoy acted all age-ist towards him, but she knew Leon thought he was a genius. But right now he was resisting care and never stopped looking at the unconscious girl on the bio-bed next to his. He was giving the nurses and doctors a hard time, so she interrupted.

"Calm down," she said, and pushed hard on the boy's shoulders so he laid down on the bio-bed. He quickly looked up at Lena, and with pleading eyes said

"Please. I am fine, make sure she is okay! Please, care for her first."

Lena sighed, and looked around at the nurses and doctors waiting for her next move.

"Well, you heard him, make sure the girl's ok!" she said, and they all rushed to Shea's biobed.

"At least let me scan you with this, is that ok?" Lena asked. Chekov hesitated, so Lena continued. "Look, half of the team is over there making sure she is fine. But I need to make sure you are too."

Chekov seemed reluctant, but he finally said fine, so Lena got to work on him. He had a minor sprain in his finger and she had to give it a splint, and a few cuts needed some patching up, but overall he was fine. When she gave him the ok to go, he sat next to the girl's bed and refused to leave.

Sighing, she checked up on a weary Spock who was being kept company by a timid Uhura, hands behind her back, staying a safe distance away from the biobed. From the few times Lena had been on the bridge she always noticed the two sharing glances, so she knew what was really happening. Lena checked him over with the tricorder and told Uhura, more than Spock himself, that he was going to be ok after a few stitches.

She held her working tricorder, Jamie, between her lips as she tightened her ponytail. She came up to McCoy's bed and began to scan the tricorder over his body again. Just to double check.

She felt someone touching her hair-tie at the base of her ponytail, and she turned around quickly and cried out in pain. There he was, holding her black hair-tie with a victorious smile.

"Um, OW that hurt!" Lena said and she reached to grab her hair-tie back, but McCoy put it around his wrist.

"You should wear your hair down more. Buns can be sexy, but you're always wearing a ponytail." He reached forward and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "Messy buns are sexy too. Overall, messy is sometimes sexy," he said slowly and with a slight slurr. He then laughed. "Ha, that rhymes!"

"Finally, I can get back at you for what you did to me a few years ago," Kirk said, now sitting next to Kamira's bed not too far away. McCoy, before this fiasco, had given her very heavy sedative so as to help her speedy recovery.

Lena just gave the Captain a fleeting look, and decided to ignore McCoy's medicated psychobabble from now on.

She put down the tridcorder and decided to see how severe his ribs were, hoping no surgery would be needed. She felt around his ribs through the fabric of the shirt, and in one spot McCoy yelled out in pain.

"Goddamit you crazy woman! Get me some more diamorphine."

"No," she said, realizing that she was going to have to have the shirt gone. The fabric of the shirt was disabling her from locating the exact point of injury. She grabbed succors and cut through the middle of the shirt and opened it. She moved a little closer, almost half sitting on the bed as she reached for his toned upper stomach.

"Dammit, you crazy woman!" he yelled out in pain when she applied a little more pressure than needed on a certain spot.

"You are such a baby!" she said, and reached to feel his ribs again, but he grabbed her wrists. "I'll give you another dose of painkillers if you let me examine your ribs," she offered, but he guffawed.

"You are … insane. Do you know that?" he asked as he traced a finger up and down the inside of her arm. She sighed, a feeling of relaxation coming over her.

"I think it runs in the family."

He genuinely laughed, and she smiled at the rare sound. Then, before Lena could register anything, he pulled on her wrists and his mouth was on hers.

'He has soft lips,' she thought as she incoherently returned the kiss. But then she felt his tongue on her lips, and she pulled back. McCoy moved to nuzzle her neck and her eyes fluttered closed.

"If we were on a different type of bed, we'd be doing a lot more," he whispered into her ear.

"Oh, my god," she said as she pulled back further, stood up, and walk away. James whistled. She licked her lips, tasting whiskey and dark chocolate, and shook her head.

"That's enough pain killers for you, Chief," she said as she brought a hand to her forehead. Her heart was beating so fast.

"No, not the Chief crap again. Leon. I like it when you call me Leon." He moved his legs gingerly and Lena knew he was trying to get off the bed.

"Goddamit no! Stay on the bed, you're hurt!" she said, a little louder than she intended as she rushed over to him and pushed him to lie down. The room fell silent. She took a deep breath, and looked around.

She smiled weakly at the crowd, but then stood straight. "There are patients, people! Get back to work."

Bones reached and grabbed one of her hands. She felt a shock that spread through her body and pulled back.

"Get some rest, Leon," Milena said tiredly.

"Stay," he said groggily.

She sighed and looked at him. "I can't," she said as she slowly moved her hand to get the sedative hypospray. She would have to be sneaky to use it.

"Yes you can. All you have to do is sit down in a chair next to my bed. And maybe feed me too, that would be nice."

She leaned forward a little, a mischevious smile on her lips. Right when McCoy reached up, expectant of something more, she moved her other hand quickly to his neck and pulled.

He didn't yell, he just grunted and fell back on the pillow.

"You… crazy…" McCoy mumbled as he slowly fell asleep. She gave him one last look, and then went to do rounds.

Her mind was racing. Why did Bones kiss her? She knew something was there, but she just pegged it as something physical. Just tension. But Bones took it further with that kiss. Now she wasn't sure. She went back to her desk after everybody was taken care of, and sat down, still a little jittery.

"It's just physical, it's just tension," she kept repeating to herself over and over as she went back to the vaccines.

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**_I love reviews like I love apples. I fucking love apples._**


	10. Chapter 10

**Long time no write! But I went back to my story and was inspired by the number of views, follows, and reviews! Thank you everybody! Here's another chapter!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

The USS Enterprise was now resting in orbit of Narcissus 3, a peaceful intergalactic planet that Starfleet was allies with.

Kirk had announced it was a couple of days of recuperation over the intercom.

But really Kirk, Spock, and Admiral Pike were all planning a counter attack on the Prisoner Colony, trying to find a way to defeat the Cardassians and take it back.

Additionally, the Cardassians had added high-tech weapons to the ship, so the damage was more than expected. The crew was working on finishing repairs on the ship, but that also left a lot of injured Starfleet crew hurt.

Which meant a crowded Medical Bay.

Which meant Lena and McCoy had to spend more time together.

"I need more damned bandages? Where the hell are they?" McCoy yelled out.

"I have a few here, lower your voice!" Lena said, frowning. "I sent Honowitz to get some more, it should be a few minutes.

"I need a bandage, STAT!" he said, a little lower but still in a loud voice.

Lena scowled, finished patching up a burn on Officer Davi, and brought the empty box with one more bandage over to McCoy.

She tossed it, knocking tools over on the tray, and one even clattered to the floor.

They had both been tense since McCoy jumped out of bed yesterday morning, making the machines go haywire when he pulled out the various IV cords. He loudly and a little violently took back his position as Officer, and it was one of the nurses who brought him a walking stick without him saying anything; but he didn't turn it away. He was still using it now.

But the two of them had been denying to themselves what happened two days before, when McCoy had finally shown his feelings under the influence of heavy pain killers and kissed her - and she kissed back.

McCoy went back to his usual scowling self with her, yet she didn't bother to talk back or made a comment to put him in his place as she usually did.

"This is unacceptable Klipp, you need to be on top of the supplies," he said sternly as he ripped open the packaging and applied the bandage to Officer Knox on the table, still bleeding after two days.

Lena frowned, and threw her hands up in the air, having enough of it.

"Well first I was attending to the mistakenly diagnosed sprained ankle and made a cast for a broken bone, then I needed to re-attend to the burn wounds that you didn't even apply ointment for. I didn't know I would also have to keep an eye on your excessive use of bandages," she said quickly and shortly, coming around the other side of the bed, arms crossed.

"It's not excessive if the blood keeps coming, Klipp. This wound is heavily infected despite the three rounds of antibiotics," he said, stiffly.

Lena stopped, and sighed.

She turned and went to a nearby cupboard set. She brought out a large clear screen with handles on each side.

She came over, flipping the X-Ray on and fiddling with the switches.

"There might be more shrapnel in there. Will you help me or not? If the latter then please move," she said, looking up to meet his gaze. It wasn't scrutinizing anymore, it was contemplating. She almost took a sigh of relief.

He reached forward and lingered, brushing his hand with hers as he took the other handle.

"Ok, let's start at the neck and go slowly," she said. McCoy moved down the bed, and they got into position.

One more setting switch," she said, and then there was a ding and the light came on and showed the bones and veins in his neck.

"Starting," she said, moving the device. McCoy did the same, watching her intently as she leaned over the device, staring at the screen closely.

"Wait, stop," she said, and pointed with her finger over the bottom of his left lung. "It's small, but definitely an obstruction," she said.

McCoy leaned over, smelling the lavender of her hair, and restrained a grin as he looked at the small piece through the X-Ray.

He tilted his head up, and she did the same, her eyes going wide for a quick second as she realized how close they were.

"We'll need to operate," he said softly.

She nodded.

"I'll uh, I'll call them up now," she said, slowly standing back up straight and bringing out her communicator.

"No," he said, and reached forward, but she pulled back with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, we can do it tomorrow morning. You need rest. You all do," he said, standing straight and looking around at the other distressed and tired nurses and doctors.

He cleared his throat, and spoke in a loud and commanding tone.

"Everybody, go to sleep! I will call some help from the Surgical Bay."

They all stood silent, unsure what to do.

"Go!" he barked, and they all sprang into action moving quickly to get their things and leaving.

Lena stood by the cupboards, the X-Ray machine done.

"You go on ahead, I'll add some Vitial cream to help the infection and patch him up. You need to recover more than any of us," she said, coming next to him and reaching over him to grab some extra gauze.

He made a weird noise in his throat, and then backed away, stumbling a little with his cane.

"I have to finish up some paperwork, I'll go in a few minutes," he muttered, and left to his office. She got to the task of applying the cream, and added gauze to the officers wound. She had just moved to the next burn on his upper thigh when he heard McCoy grumble a farewell as he left, not looking back.

He left, and she sighed heavily and slunk to lean on the bed, holding her head in her hands.

She couldn't believe she let it happen. During school she was always adamant about not mixing her personal life to her professional one, no matter how tempting the other males were. But she stepped onto the Enterprise, shook hands with a grumpy Bones, and feelt changed when his furrowed eyebrows relaxed the second they met each other's gazes.

Then there was that damn kiss. Though there was nothing damned about it. She now couldn't get the scent of pine from her mind, wondering if he wore aftershave or cologne, or maybe he went simple and it was his soap.

She groaned, and laughed. She was in such trouble and now that they were working side by side every day because of the high number of injuries, it was impossible to ignore that she was very attracted to him.

But now that he was putting on the cold shoulder, she knew she should feel relieved, but felt crushed instead.

She laughed out loud again, and shook her head.

She then heard a clearing of a throat and looked up to see a group of nurses hanging around awkwardly. Lena jumped, and wept the smile off her face.

"Doctor Klipp?" the man in front asked.

"Please, call me Milena. Thank you all for coming; we need the help right now," she said, deciding to go with complete denial that they overhead her.

"Of course, no problem," another one said. Lena only smiled.

"It's okay, we all know that we're too scared of McCoy to say no," she said.

A few of them scoffed and smiled, the others just looked away.

"Anyways, the charts are all accessible to you, and please prepare Officer Knox for surgery tomorrow morning. A small piece of shrapnel in his left lung might have punctured a ventricle. Again, we all thank you! And just ask if you need the favor returned. See you all around!" She said, then went to her locker, gathered her things, and left.

She had only gotten a few steps out of the medical bay when she felt someone grab her arm. She moved her other hand to hit her attacker, but McCoy grabbed her it just in time before it hit his face, his cane clattering to the floor.

"I would appreciate if you didn't hit me," he muttered, caging her body with his, her back against the wall.

"I would appreciate if you wouldn't attack me unknowingly," she said.

The corner of his mouth quirked, but at the same time his eye twitched, and she knew he was in pain from his leg. She sighed, and bent down, retrieving the cane for him and forcing it back into his hand.

He sighed, muttered something she couldn't understand, and then rest the cane against the wall, moving back to cage her body with his again.

"It's to help you, it's not a sign of weakness," she said quietly.

He leaned in dangerously close, a dark scowl on his face.

"And you how would you know about it?" he asked.

"I felt as hopeless when you came in injured, leaving me to take over the Bay unexpectedly. I had no clue how to run the place," she said.

"Is that all that happened that day?" he asked, leaning in even closer, their breaths mingling. He noticed her pupils dilated a little bit more.

"What do you mean?" she asked, acting confused.

He leaned in an inch more.

"I can say it again. Is that all that happened that day?" he asked, feeling the sharp intake of breath she took as he moved in even closer, their bodies touching, aligning perfectly.

He smiled at the hint of pink that touched her cheeks.

"What about you, then? Anything else happened to you, other than being drugged out of your mind?" she asked, her gaze challening, her voice shaking.

He moved in even closer; their lips were a breath apart, they were staring right into each other's eyes.

He looked down at her lips, then back into her eyes, and smiled.

"I can think of maybe one thing," he said slowly.

She shivered.

He moved his lips to barely scrape hers, stayed there for a beat, and then pulled back, leaning on his cane.

He smiled.

"Goodnight, Lena," he said, and then walked away.

"Goodnight," she barely whispered, raising her fingers to her lips. The pine scent was back and as heavy as ever.

She smiled too, closed her eyes before shaking her head. She opened her eyes and went down a different hall to get to her room, her smile lingering.


	11. Chapter 11

_The inspiration for this story is back! _

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"How is the damsel in distress?" Admiral pike asked, his large image projected against the starry backdrop of the Command Room window.The room went silent. They all knew that Kirk was more distressed than usual over the sleeping hostage they'd rescued. Kirk's usual smile he held for Pike slipped, but he nodded, shuffled his step slightly and spoke.

"She has been still sleeping, but the doctors say she is in good health."

"Well this is were the bad news comes in. I have looked to the other ships, and there is no logical plan to have a ship coming home to pick her up. They're all too far away, and to hire a commercial ship is too much that Starfleet can give up for a single hostage."

"Sir, I'm not sure I follow,"

"You will need to keep her on ship until a right opportunity comes along for her to come home. if she wants to herself, she can pay for a commercial ship, though none that I know of from Home come out as far as you are located."

"Will she need to assume a position? Will she be hired?"

"That's all hazy. She can help as needed, but tell her upfront we are not offering a position of any kind. She hasnt gone to the academy, she cannot assume an official position on the Enterprise."

"Understood, Admiral. We will inform her when she wakes."

"Have you found the Colony yet?"

Kirk nodded.

"They have anchored near Ranza V, just far enough to be out of the planets radar. We thought that contact would only raise alarm."

"Smart move. When do you plan to attack? We need this taken care of, pronto. Cna't have the word move around that Starfleet can't contain its own prisoner colonies."

"Understood Admiral. We plan attack in two days time, Scotty is adding some flares to the ships weapons."

Pike raised an eyebrow. "And I am safe to assuume that they are in Starfleet ship relugations and codes?"

"Of course," Kirk grinned. He then sighed, and thought he should give his idea a shot. Admiral, I think the crew needs a night out, on the town, on a planet. We're about to embark on a dangerous mission," Kirk said to the screen.

"Only would I hear this from you, Captain," Pike said, scratching his chin. He sighed, and shrugged. "But you have been doing very successfully, helping the Starfleet immensely. You will go tomorrow night. I'll let the Nimbuli know you are coming down. Stay together as a group, rent out a bar if needed. Don't want people separating. And book hotel rooms, let the pilots have some fun too."

Chekov and Sulu high-fived under their control panel.

"Sir, are you sure this is wise?" Spock asked.

"Yes, Spock. Our weapons are still being repaired and upgraded, so you can't go anywhere. And fuel is still coming from our station a galaxy away. Would you suggest only using thrusters to win a fight?" he asked.

Spock nodded, and stayed silent.

"You have the go, Kirk. Give your ship an hour to ready, but elect a big group to stay behind and continue the needed repairs.

"Can do, Admiral. We all will enjoy our reward," he said, and then cut the signal.

Kirk smiled, and turned to Uhura.

"Get the intercom on, the whole ship," he said.

* * *

"You won't imagine how much my hand hurt after that first punch… but it felt right."

That night, Kirk was at Kamira's bedside. He had the privacy curtain on, so they were enveloped in their own small space, away from prying eyes.

He was now telling his story, of growing up with his mother who always chose the worst men. One of them had gotten physical, and he recreated the story of when he first started protecting his own.

He flexed his fingers, and then brought them back to a fist.

"Later, when any of the guys would get to handsy with her, or whenever I saw even a hint of a bruise, they were in trouble. My fighting always drove them away, despite my mother's anger at me. She just… since my dad… she was ever really the same…" he said, reached down again to grasp the sleeping woman's hand. His own asleep and cute therapist.

"Since then, I've protected her. Then I found the academy… and now, she's-"

"Kirk! Come in, Kirk," McCoy's voice snapped on his intercom.

"What?" he asked.

"Come out, we gotta talk."

"Can it wait; I'm in the middle-"

"Can't wait, Captain."

Kirk sighed, pocketed the small communicator, and the pushed a button on the pod bed to make the curtain disappear.

"What is it Doc?" he asked, standing up and taking a few steps away from the bio bed.

"She should be awake by now," McCoy more so muttered than said to him.

"Excuse me?"

"The… medicine, to help her sleep, it should've worn off by now."

"What do you mean?" he asked curtly. McCoy sighed.

"She's been out for a couple days longer than is known. Now, it could be she was over exhausted, so she really is still resting… or she's comatose."

Kirk stood there, taking in the information, but not too well. He started feeling pissed.

"Why in the hell did you not tell me about this?" he asked slowly.

"It's always different with each patient. The trauma she went through could be a factor in this prolonged –"

"Coma?"

"I was going to say sleep, you idiot. Calm down. If she isn't awake by next week, I will make the official call. I am just letting you know – as a friend, damn you – that there is a possibility," McCoy said in such a tone that it stopped Kirk and his anger.

He closed his eyes and looked somewhere else as he opened them.

"Thanks, Bones. Really."

"Yeah yeah, get sappy on someone else. I was going to suggest you talk to her."

"To an unconscious woman?"

"I know it's not usually your forte', but it's been… well I dint believe it but-" his eyes flickered to Lena, and then grunted and looked back to Kirk. "But it's been _said_ that patients can hear and obtain voices. Sometimes touch helps – appropriate touch mind you!"

"Go back to work, Bones. I've got some waking up to do," Kirk muttered, and went back to the bio-bed. He then pressed some buttons on the bed, and activated the privacy shield.

He looked at Kamira's sleeping body, and sighed. He sat down on the chair he had gotten too accustomed to, and reached for her hand. He brought his other hand to sandwich it, and took a deep breath.

"Karmira?" he said quietly. He laughed, feeling like a fool, but scooted closer anyways, and squeezed her hand.

"Please wake up. Kamira."

He stood up, and leaned over her, noticing a small scar near hear left ear, and a sprinkle of freckles on her nose.

"Kamira," he said, squeezing her hand yet again.

She opened her eyes with a gasp, and brought her head up quickly. They butted heads, and both yelled out.

Kirk fell back into the chair, and she fell back to the bed, both holding their heads.

"Oh, god," she moaned.

"Are you okay?" Kirk asked, opening his eyes and blinking through the pain. She was staring right at him.

"I'm the one that just head-butted you…" she said, and tilted her head.

Kirk couldn't help but smile.

"You're the one that's been sleeping more than usual," he said, and stood back up.

"It feels more like a whiskey and tequila hangover."

"That sounds like a party I am sad to have missed," Kirk said.

"No, be happy you did," she said, still holding one hand to her head. She then sighed, and looked around at the curtain shield that also was sound proof.

"Where the hell am I? And who are you?"

"Well, if I wasn't one for prompt introductions…"

"You owe me at least that much," she said, meeting his gaze with determination. He was taken aback, and found himself smiling again.

"Well, you're on the USS Enterprise, and you can call me Kirk."

She frowned. And then cried out and sunk back down to the bed and threw the covers over her.

"Kamira?" he asked clueless to her reply.

"Oh god, of all people, of all _Captains_, why you?" she said, her voice muffled through the sheets.

He sat back down, surprised yet again. She was a handful.

"I take it you know who I really am?"

"Oh _please_!" she said, throwing the covers back down so she could meet his gaze. "As if you haven't taken every female in San Francisco to bed, I have the unfortunate pleasure of being forced to listen to their woes every night as they drink themselves to oblivion!" she said, her face flushed.

Kirk raised an eyebrow.

"You're a bartender, from San Fran?" he asked.

She scoffed and looked at him incredulously.

"Seriously?" she asked, and shook her head.

"Turn the curtain thing off; now that I'm awake, the _doctors_ need to check up on me."

Kirk sighed, and shut down the privacy shield. Lena and McCoy were on the other end and came to the bed automatically.

"Can you hear me, Kamira?" McCoy said loudly.

"Dammit stop yelling, I'm not deaf."

Lena smiled.

"Motor skills are in check."

McCoy grunted.

"I'm fine, docs. I'm fine. Now if you could let me be on my merry way-"

"Sorry dear, but that won't be for a while," Lena said, scanning her vitals and pulse.

"Why not?" Kamira asked, glaring at Kirk. He raised an eyebrow.

"We're galaxies away from Earth, and no amount of currency will get you a shuttle there, it's a dangerous trek if they don't have hyper speed, like we do."

"And you still need recovery time," Kirk said.

"But I feel fine! I just woke up from a deep sleep! Aurora didn't need observation when she woke, everybody rejoiced!"

"Who?" McCoy asked.

"Does nobody know their Disney princesses?"

"Disney? Isn't that the company with the mouse for the mascot?" Lena asked.

"Are you guys aliens?"

"No, we're Earthlings, but don't spend much time there," Kirk replied, smiling. Kamira sighed.

"So if I'm stuck here, what am I to do?" she asked.

"Well first I need a statement from you. From you experience of the Romulans, and the rescue. For Starfleet records. I can write it or record it, whichever you prefer."

"First we need to finish our scans, Kirk, slow down," McCoy grumbled, checking her abrasions and bruises.

Kamira eventually slapped his hands away. McCoy looked shocked, and Lena let out a laugh.

"I'm fine, thank you very much."

Kirk was gleaming.

"It seems you are. Docs, you are free to leave, we'll need privacy for the statement," Kirk said.

Lena and McCoy left, and Kirk brought up the privacy curtain.

Kamira looked at her hands.

"Can I maybe just bribe you with free drinks at my work and you'll make some story up for the records?"

"Sorry, Kamira. As captain, I need to do my duties to the fullest," he said softly. Kamira looked p and met his gaze, her own guarded.

"Well then Captain, let's get this over with."

"Would you rather me write, or record?" he asked.

"Which would take less time?"

"Recording."

"That, then. Fire it up, ask the questions."

"Alright then," Kirk said, turning on his small recording device and settting it on the table. He took out his reader and clicked it on, finding the file with the standard questions.

"What were you doing before you were captured? Where were you captured?"

Kamira sighed, and looked back down at her hands.

"I was with my foster family, and my sister. They have a small ship and take it for small vacations, and we came along this time. I wasn't sure where we were when we were captured, though. All I know is when we boarded their ship, we went hyper speed for a few minutes before stopping."

"What happened to the other captors?" Kirk asked.

Kamira looked up, looking pained. Kirk reached forward and squeezed her hands.

"This is regulation, Karmia. This must be so hard, I am so sorry," he whispered.

"They killed my foster parents right off. They both pulled weapons. My sister and I hid in the kitchen when we heard the blasts, but they found us," she whispered, not breaking his gaze. He felt her squeeze his hand.

"How long were you captive? Until we found you?" he asked.

"They went to sleep maybe five times, with each taking shifts, so I guess five days? I don't know the Romulan sleep cycles…"

"They're no different. Five days…" he whispered. "How did they treat you as a prisoner?"

She squeezed his hands tightly at that question, but she continued.

"They fed us, gave us water. We had to share a small blanket and one pillow. I gave it to-" tears started forming, but she kept talking. "Joanna, my sister. The third day one of the men tried to manhandle Jo, and I kicked out at him. That's when they started getting violent. They killed Jo the next day." She took a deep breath, the tears now continuous.

"They were beating me up, manhandling me, threatening to rape me," she took a deep breath, and she raised her gaze to him and it lightened. "And the next day, I woke up to the same, but then you were suddenly there. You and your crew," she said. "Thank you. I'm not sure I got to say that."

"You did, many times," Kirk said, his voice breaking, his eyes watering.

Kamira's gaze went soft, and she reached a hand forward to touch his cheek.

"I'm just sorry we didn't get there sooner," he said, now looking down at his hands, feeling guilt.

She reached down and lingered her touch on his scabbed knuckles.

"I had my anger out on one of them," he said, looking back up. Kamira was smiling.

"Well, at least someone got to do it," she said. Kirk laughed, and looked back down to the reader. He cleared his throat.

"I'll have to cut that part out, it's against the rules to commit violence against a Starfleet prisoner. But that's the information I need for the file," he said.

"Good. Now, is there a way I can take a loan of a Starfleet shuttle?"

"I'm sorry to say you're stuck here, Kamira," Kirk said.

"You're grinning. You're not sorry. Make a move, and I'll have my own anger out on your handsome face, you hear?"

"You think I have a handsome face?" he grinned.

"Ugh, this is going to be unbearable, trapped here with you."

"Well actually tomorrow night we have permission to visit Narcissus 3, for a night on the town. It'll be a bar, probably."

"I could use a good drink."

"So you'll come down with us?"

"Well if my handsy doctor gives me the go…" she said uncertainly.

"McCoy won't have a choice, let's tell him," he said, and lowered the privacy curtain.

"Stop grinning, Lena," McCoy grumbled, though he couldn't help lifting the corner of his mouth either. No patient had ever slapped him away.

"Priceless! Wish I had a recorder."

"I wouldn't allow that and you know it," he said, turning to face her.

"I have my ways," she shrugged, grinning. McCoy stared at her, his eyes darkening.

"So," she cleared her throat. McCoy stood up strait, clearing his throat as well, gripping his cane tightly. "Kamira is in great shape. Those extra days of sleep really helped."

"She's still fragile, and unnourished. She needs nutrients; maybe a Vita BCD bag would help…"

"She's absolutely fine, the scans say so."

"She's malnourished."

"Maurice can help with that. In fact, hell, just have Scotty fill her plate each meal, she'll be fit in no time."

McCoy smiled. "Scotty'll get the job done, definitely."

"Send her to the mess hall now, it's time for a meal break anyways," Lena said. At that, Kirk had taken down the privacy curtain.

"Hey Kamira, you feeling hungry?"

"Starving!" Kamira said, her face growing bright and showing excitement.

"We've got somebody for you to meet," McCoy said. "You!" he barked at a passing nurse. He jumped, and looked up at him. "Biochair for the patient, stat!"

Kirk stood up, and brought out his communicator. "Scotty," he said into it, "get to the cafeteria, we've got a hungry person who doesn't know what to eat."

"Is she vegetarian though?" a Scottish accent came from the other end. "I won't take that, never in my lifetime."

"Vegetarians are depressing, I eat meat," Kamira said loudly.

"Oh, what a woman! Kirk I like this-" Kirk turned the communicator off, and just in time the nurse brought a biochair, a comfy white chair with white wheels. Kirk offered to pick up Kamira to help her on the chair, but she refused and had Lena do it.

They made their way to the cafeteria.

Kamira looked around at the people at the tables, and the food lining the back wall. Amazing smells wafted over her and her stomach growled.

"Who's that girl with Scotty? Has he been keeping secrets from me?" Lena asked, frowning. Scotty was sitting next to Kira, quite closely, and they were sharing a plate.

"Since when are you cozy with Scotty?"

"Since we both discovered we both put potato chips in our sandwiches, Chief, relax," Lena said, and pushed Kamira to the table in question. Scotty smiled and waved.

"This must me my new subject!" he said, reached a hand forward to Kamira, she shook it.

"I'm Kamira, and haven't had decent food in a while."

"What flavors are you craving at the moment?"

"Cheesy and greasy," she said automatically.

"Philly cheese steak it is then!" Scotty said.

"I'll get it," Kirk said. When everybody stared at him, he continued. "It'll get done faster if it comes from me," he muttered and walked to the kitchen window to order.

"This is Kira. Kira, this is McCoy, Milena, and Kamira. Kira is a chef in the kitchens, makes great food," he sid, bringing an arm around her shoulder and squeezing. Kira only blushed.

"I'm just a helper, I cook for Scotty at times," she said.

"Ohh…" Lena said, smiling cunningly. She sat down, McCoy sitting a little far from her, she couldn't help but notice.

"What do you do?" Kira asked. Lena smiled.

"I'm Junior Medial Officer, that's is the Chief over here," she said, pointing a thumb at McCoy, who was making two plates on a tray.

"I was the one rescued from the Romulan ship," Kamira said bold.y Kira and Scotty both smiled.

"The survivor! Great to meat you," Scotty said. Then his face fell. "But just one Philly cheese steak wont be enough. I think we're going to be here for a while."

Kamira laughed. Kirk came and settled the plate with steaming meat and cheese wafting to her nose. McCoy came over as well, and gave one of the plates to Lena, who grabbed a fork and dove into the pasta.

"I can't complain about that!" Kamira said.

* * *

_Please review! A writer writes when they are happy. Reviews make me happy._


	12. Chapter 12

_Hello everybody! I've been faltering on inspiration for the story; I'm caught right now and don't know where to go. I'm going to put this story on a hiatus for now._

_Feel free to review! And if there's anyone up for a BETA position, let me know!_

* * *

**Chapter 12**

The bar was overcrowded, but all spirits were high. The owner himself had come out to adore Kirk and give praise to the infamous Captain of the USS Enterprise, and even closed the bar down for the crew.

Shea and Chekov were cuddled together in a booth, ignoring their drinks as they talked. Kira and Scotty were having a contest about who could catch the most peanuts in a row with their mouths.

"Karem, another round, on me this time!" Kirk said loudly, raising his glass of beer, McCoy shaking his head next to him.

Uhura and Kamira had both shared an eye roll.

"So how's Spock?" Kamira asked silently as she sipped her margarita. Uhura spat and choked. Kamira laughed as she continued. "You two look at each other like lovesick puppies. Hell, it's even getting me sick and I've only seen it for two days."

"It's… distant. I mean, it's always been distant, but ever since the run in with the Romulans, and then the prisoner colony, it's been even more."

"Have you guys had much time to talk since I came and scrambled things up?" Kamira asked.

Uhura had filled her in on everything that had happened. She felt sick when she heard that the same Romulan men that had took her were colleagues of the Cardassians that had overtaken the prisoner colony. She felt even worse when she found out the lives lost, the injuries that happened to the crew. All because of her and her captors.

"You know it's not your fault Kamira."

"Don't try to change the subject," she said, taking the last drops and licking the last of the salt on the rim. Uhura sighed.

"No, not really. Not like you and Kirk," she replied, giving her a grin. Kamira shook her head, rolled her eyes.

"Please, the last thing I need right now is the infamous Captain Kirk to complicate my life even more."

Kamira then faltered, remembering the way Kirk had sauntered in when she was hanging on by a thread, frightened for her life, her body hurting and tired. The way he fought, the way he handled her in her state. His strong grip as he carried her.

"Oh god, not you too," Uhura groaned. Kamira blinked.

"Shit!" she said aloud, earning a few curious glances. She stood up quickly, Uhura following suit.

"Enough with this blended shit, I need shots."

* * *

"Stop glaring, Bones."

"She's fondling herself in front of him!" he growled, watching as Lena splayed her hands on her stomach. All the while the bartender, Karem, watched her intently, ignoring the other customers.

"She's teaching CPR. Would you rather her use him as a dummy?" Kirk goaded, earning another growl from Bones, making him laugh.

"She's already drunk. Her cheeks are flushed."

"Or she could be attracted to him."

McCoy only threw back the rest of his scotch, and cleared his throat.

He stood up. Lena, her one hand now on her chest over her heart, looked over. They stared at each other across the bar

He let out a final grunt, and turned to weave his way through the crowd towards the bathroom. To Kirk's surprise, Lena left the bar - and Karem in mid-sentence as she followed suit, pushing the door to the men's room open.

"This is gonna be interesting," Kirk muttered. He turned in his seat and saw Kamira and Uhura together, flagging down the bartender. Kirk smiled and waved, but Kamira's eyebrows drew down as she frowned. Uhura caught his gaze, and with her glare only made for him, she shook her head, telling him to back off. He only sighed as he looked down at his beer glass.

Maybe not as interesting as he hoped.

* * *

Heart beating, her hands slightly shaking, Lena bravely pushed open the men's room door, and leant against it to close it. She watched McCoy pace, fists clenched, muttering under his breath. Then he noticed her, and stopped.

"What the hell are you doing in here? Are you blind?"

Lena frowned.

"I wouldn't be your second in command if I was, would I?"

He took a few steps towards her, and instead of flinching Lena only stood up straighter, keeping her back on the door.

"Dammit McCoy, are you an angry drunk?" He took a few more steps, now too close, and her voice shook. "Would've thought you would be a happy drunk - seeing as you're always angry when you're sober."

"I can be many different types of drunk, Lena," he said as he brought a rest on her arm, his dark gaze almost melting her to a pool at his feet.

She shook her head, shaking the thoughts away. He only quirked a brow.

"So I'm only an angry drunk?" his hand moved, sliding up her shoulder to rest around her neck. "What if I was a violent drunk?"

Lena tilted her head, and her knee slid up along his thigh to rest right at his crotch.

"Nothing I couldn't take care of."

They shared a tense moment, staring at each other. With a groan McCoy leaned forward and rested his forehead on the door. She closed her eyes and inhaled his overpowering scent of alcohol and aftershave.

"Jesus, Lena, what are you doing to me?"

She playfully shifted his knee, making him take in a breath through gritted teeth, and she laughed softly.

"Nothing, Leon. Yet."

He moved his head so he was nuzzling her ear, sending shivers down her back. He moved lower to kiss her neck softly, and she whimpered involuntarily. He pulled back, and she pushed him away.

They stared at each other, breathing heavily, only a few steps apart.

"Yet?" McCoy asked, looking confused.

Lena only shook her head.

"Goodnight, _Bones_," she said, throwing Kirk's nickname at him, almost like a slap in the face. She knew the story behind the name, found out about it tonight from a nurse. She hated to think of Leon with another woman, being married no less.

She left the bathroom, pulling the door open just as a Red Suit was pushing it open, he stumbled but pulled himself up short, looking between a shocked McCoy and flustered Lena.

"Uh, sir," he said, nodding his head at McCoy, who still had his gaze on Lena.

"Have a good night, boys," she said.

* * *

"Thanks for that. Couldn't deal with him right now," Kamira said as she and Uhura took a small corner table to enjoy their tequila bottle they had taken from Karem. She frowned, thinking of the almost hurt look on his face.

"I don't know how you deal with him anytime."

"Aww, come on he's not that bad… oh crap, I'm defending a player!" she almost screeched, and then grabbed at the poured a glass, knocking it back in a second. Then their discussion started, sharing their Starfleet men woes.

"I've heard about every single line he's given, every move he's done, the charming dance moves. I've seen all the friggin' tears over him than I can handle; the feminist speeches of never falling for it again, the friends cussing him out as they took shots; the tips were always good though when I pretended to listen and gave some on the spot advice. After hearing all of that… how humiliating, that I might be the next?"

"I'm falling in love with a man who has no emotions! I mean he didn't even come down tonight. I offered to buy him a drink; he only frowned, said some mumbo jumbo about the effects of alcohol being scarce on him, and then rushed off to look at some charts. Or whatever that brilliant man does…"

"It's hero syndrome. It has to be…"

"I can barely get him to touch me…"

"But we laugh so much together. And he's told me things… he's opened up to me. That has to mean something…"

"I can barely get a word out of him about his life. I mean even when we sleep together-"

"What? You've slept with him? What are you complaining about?"

"It's just that – we sleep! He came to my room one night, having trouble sleeping. He spooned and fell asleep like that. He only does it once in a while."

"I miss cuddling. I want my spoon!"

"What's this about a spoon?"

They both looked up to find Kirk and McCoy standing above them.

Kamira glanced around, surprised to find the place empty. Most of the chairs were upended on the tables, and the two bartenders were wiping down the counters and sweeping the floors.

"We need some for ice cream. But we'll need that as well. Does Scotty have a connection?" Uhura asked.

McCoy and Kirk shared a glance.

"Okay ladies, time to go back. You both need some pain meds and a soft bed. Not to mention at least a gallon of water each," McCoy said, shaking his head as he brought an arm around Uhura and helped her stand up. She leaned on him, bringing her hands around his neck to hold on.

"Make sure Milena doesn't see that," Kirk muttered. McCoy snorted.

"She left with a few red suits, she probably wouldn't care," he said.

Kamira snorted, and laughed.

"Oh you men are just precious, aren't you?"

McCoy only gave her a glare, taking a laughing Uhura with her. She then started muttering in a language with clicking tongue noises.

"She'll be alright, right?" Kamira asked, tilting her head back further as Kirk stepped closer. He only smiled, and then took the seat across from her. He poured the last few drops of the bottle into the glass, and threw it back, not making a face.

"Are you sure this was wise, with all of the medication you've been on?" he asked.

"There were a handful of doctors and nurses here, I'm fine."

"Well since I only understood maybe half that sentence, I would have to disagree."

"What?"

"You're drunk, honey."

"I know that. Don't call me that," she said, frowning. She slammed her hands on the table and pushed herself up. When she straightened her back, her world tilted, and she moaned as her knees buckled.

She felt his strong arms close around her hold her up. This time she didn't feel scared. She welcomed the warm buzz through her body.

Kirk murmured something and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"No!" she said, pushing away, but Kirk kept his grip on her.

"What?"

"If anything Captain, you'll be the notch on _my _bedpost."

Kirk only stared, surprised.

"That's more like it," she said, grinning at his silent reaction. "Now I'm tired, let me sleep," she said, resting her head on his shoulder, taking an involuntary breath that invaded her senses of his aftershave. She was too tired and woozy to care right now. She felt her eyes close involuntarily.

"There's a hotel nearby that most of us are staying at, let's go," he said softly, running a hand down her hair as he led them out of the bar.

* * *

"Kirk," Kamira slurred, and Kirk turned to find her now on the bed, failing to take off a shoe. "I'm gonna close my eyes for a couple minutes."

He walked forward, knelt down, and rested a foot on his knee. His warm hands brushed her skin as he held her leg in place while he pulled the zipper of the boot down. She let out a soft mumble-sigh as he took off her other boot and lifted her legs onto the bed.

"I'm just going to call the lobby, see if they have any Advix," he explained as he went around the bed and sat down next to her, resting his legs next to hers. She started fumbling under her shirt around her back. Then she reached in through her sleeve and pulled out a black lacy bra. Kirk could only close his eyes to refrain from cursing.

This was not going well for him. When he said he wasn't caring to get into her pants, back then he was telling the truth, but now… he wasn't sure. Getting to know her in their few days together left him wanting more. And her comment about _her _bedpost only made it worse. He sighed; touched the wall next to his lamp and the phone menu appeared. He tapped the Lobby tab and soon he heard ringing.

"The room is spinning, James."

James turned and saw Kamira lying down, her head turned and staring up at him, her eyes droopy.

"Close your eyes."

She did, and she squeezed them tight.

"Mmhm. Still spinning, James."

He reached forward and grabbed her nearest hand, enclosing it in his. She smiled and opened her eyes lazily. The phone was still ringing, so Kirk hung it up and turned his full attention back to Kamira. He was wondering if he should get a type of bin to put next to the bed when she spoke again.

"When you get to thinking really hard, you do this thing with your lip. It twitches and you bite it. Did you know that?" she said slowly, her eyes drifting closed, sleep overpowering her.

"Sleep Kamira. Get ready for tomorrow morning," he said as he lay down as well, adjusting the pillows to get comfy.

"Ha. We're sleeping together now. Guess you have to start ignoring me," she joked.

He frowned, but still smiled as he shook his head and turned to face her as he closed his eyes.

That morning Kamira woke up with a killer headache. She let out a yawn and moved her legs a little but felt that they were immobilized. She opened her eyes slowly, and was staring at Kirk's sleeping face.

There were three prominent scars on his face, once right near his eyes. She saw the faint shadow of stubble on his jaw, and the right corner of his mouth was titled up a little. That had her grinning. Typical.

She let her eyes travel a little down and she noticed they were both under the sheets. She felt the weight of his arm draped over her waist and his palm on her back, against her skin, under her shirt. Their legs were tangled together. Her cheeks flared when she realized her arm was tucked under his neck. She moved her hand slowly and brought her hand to under her own head. She closed her eyes again, her vision getting dizzy.

The next time she woke up, her head and her hand were resting on his chest, and she could hear his heartbeat quickening. She lifted her head and looked up at him, the smirk still there, his eyes now open.

"Good morning sleeping beauty, how are we feeling?"

The headache came rolling in as soon as he talked. She winced.

"Too loud, too loud," she groaned, and let her head drop again, the fabric of his shirt comforting on her cheek.

"Sleep some more, we've got a couple of hours," Kirk said in a softer voice, his hand lazily stroking her hair.

When did that happen?

She let out a stifled groan of headache and body pain, and let her eyes droop closed again; but now there was a different kind of fluttering in her stomach.

"Kamira, time to go."

"Cmon, Jo, just a few more minutes."

"People usually call me Kirk, but I think I can get used to Jo."

Her eyes opened, and she was looking right back at a smiling Kirk. Why did he look so refreshed in the morning?

"Shut it, Captain. Your voice only adds to the headache," she said. She sat up, brought a hand to her head to still the dizzying, and then climbed out slowly to put on her boots and jacket. She glanced down and saw her bra, and with a blush she stuffed it into her pocket.

"So, a notch on _your_ bedpost, huh?" Kirk asked teasingly.

Kamira didn't even look back as she zipped up her jacket and left the room, ignoring his laughter.

* * *

_As always, thanks for reading! And even more for reviewing!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Wowza, 8,000 views!_

_Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Kamira and Uhura met each other at the cafeteria and found a small table to sit at after they got their large greasy lunches.

"How's your head?" they asked each other at the same time. They laughed. Uhura shook her head as she rested it on her arm. She grinned.

"Spock brought me a hangover remedy yesterday, after we took the hovercraft. He was waiting at my room."

"Wow."

"Right? But it's... he's never done something like that before."

"Maybe he's growing. As a relationship man I mean."

"But we didn't even talk. He just gave me the box of remedies and left me alone, to 'recover'."

"Would you really have been ready to talk to him then?"

Uhura shook her head sighing. Then she stopped, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I remember leaving you and Kirk alone last night-"

"Nope, he just brought me to his hotel room and we slept in his bed. _Sleep_, mind you! And in the morning he acted all… ugh I dunno, but it pissed me off and I left."

"Well that won't stop him from intermittently staring at you in the control room. You know the chair swivels, right?"

"Oh please-"

"Kamira!"

They both turned to see Milena rushing up to them, a tray in her hands. She sat down next to Kamira, and first took a few bites of her salad before swallowing and smiling in greeting.

"Sorry to be rude, but I haven't eaten since last morning. How are you girls feeling since the other night?"

They shrugged.

"How was Kirk in the sack?" she asked Kamira.

Kamira stuttered, and Milena and Uhura started laughing.

"He had that happy glow about him, always happens after he lands a lady. Don't worry, I've only seen it a… few times," Milena added.

"I know plenty about the man's history. But nothing happened, believe me."

Uhura and Milena only shook their heads.

"Seriously! And I'll be out of everybody's hair soon - so nothing will!"

Two pairs of eyebrows shot up in accusation.

"I'll leave- I can call Kirk right now and have him tell you the same."

"Tell what?" said the devil.

Kamira almost groaned, but refrained from it as she looked up at Kirk. McCoy was next to him, eating a stalk of celery.

"You gonna say moo?" Milena asked. Uhura laughed, and McCoy glared but also grinned.

"Something you wanted to tell me?" Kirk asked.

"Oh, just assuring the girls nothing is going to happen between us," Kamira muttered.

Kirk raised an eyebrow.

"Really? And I just recall you were saying something about notches on your bedpost the other night…"

Kamira stood up, holding her empty tray against her, glaring at Kirk.

"And here I thought you could take a joke," he continued. Kamira let out an angry noise and left, depositing the tray on one of the counters before she went through the sliding doors. Kirk sighed and chased after her, calling her name.

"Cow say moo?" Milena egged on. McCoy only took another bite of the celery and chewed it, not taking his eyes off of her. He swallowed and tilted his head.

"_Yet_?" was his only reply.

Milena stood up as well, also leaving in haste. McCoy shrugged, and glanced at Uhura. He gave a nod.

"Lieutenant."

Grinning, Uhura returned the nod.

"Commander."

He turned and left, and even though she was alone, Uhura couldn't help chuckling to herself as she finished her meal in peace.

* * *

"Kamira!"

She ignored him, turning down another hall that looked like all of the others.

"Kamira."

The voice sounded closer, echoing. She started jogging, turning through the maze of clean white halls, trying to look for her designated room.

"Kamira, I know you're lost."

She growled, fisted her hands, and turned down another hall. This one had a dead end. She turned around to find Kirk standing only a few feet away, a grin on his face. She turned back, not accepting defeat, and went to the doors, pressing the button. It asked for an access code.

She sighed and looked down, her hand dropping.

"It's the weapons gallery. Only commanding officers are allowed."

She jerked a little when she felt his breath on her ear, his body almost touching hers. She stepped to the side and turned around to face his devilish grin.

"Notch on _your_ bedpost, huh?" he asked, the same as yesterday. She threw her hands in the air.

"I was drunk, Kirk! I was just pulling your leg!"

"Well you can pull my leg anyti-"

"It's a figure of speech! My god, you Starfleet have no idea, spending so much time away from Home. It means I was just joking with you."

"Honey, where you're concerned it is definitely no joke."

"Don't call me that! And there's nothing else to talk about."

"There's plenty, Kamira," he grabbed her wrist. She pulled away but he held her close. She froze, and he took the moment to rest his nose in her hair and inhale. Lavender shampoo. He smiled.

"Like what, Kirk?"

"Well first, call me James. You pronounce the last K all weird."

"_Kirk_, let me go."

He did, sighing, and she stepped away but stayed close.

"And you still need an official Job-" he started.

"I'm Uhura's assistant!"

"We call that a Yeoman, but you can have the same color as her. You need a uniform-"

"Hell no! I'm not even on the payroll. No uniform, I draw the line there."

"You can't be the only one without-"

"Starfleet can't officially pay me, I didn't attend the academy. I know my stuff, Kirk, and I know that under the Starfleet rules, since I didn't attend the academy and I'm not officially a member of the ship, I'm not required to wear a uniform."

She enjoyed wearing the jeans, though they were worn out and dirty, tearing at the belt loops because she always kept pulling them up since the waist was loose on her. And she had no qualms about her oversized shirt, though it had holes in weird and subtly revealing places.

"But seeing your legs in the uniform dress..."

"Ugh, you really are impossible!"

"What you want me to be the sensitive guy?" he asked, stepping forward, leaning in close. "That these oversized clothes you're wearing now don't show off your perfect body? That while you're always beautiful, that the dark red color of the uniform will bring out your eyes? That-"

She brought up a hand and covered his mouth.

"Okay, no, don't do that," she breathed.

He only stared at her. She stared back, but then pushed his face away, sighing again. He shook his head, and spoke.

"Just… reconsider the uniform. At least people won't point you out as the damsel in distress."

"That's who I am? The damsel in distress!?"

"It wasn't me! It just caught on-"

"I'm leaving now, just try to stop me," she said, and walked around him, running back the way she came to ask for directions back to her room.

She finally found it, and entered quickly, fumbling on the keypad for her pass code.

She flung herself on the bed, staring up at the clean white ceiling.

Damsel?

In fucking _distress_?

So she was rescued, yes. And she was in a coma for a while, but _Damsel_?

She hated it, she always saw herself as strong. She had to push her emotions and ten year old ways aside when her parents died, and became a mother to help raise her sister. She was grateful when Jaremy and Katheryn adopted the both of them, but she never reverted back to her child ways. She grew up when she was 10, and that was that.

She groaned again.

Kirk saw her that way probably. A woman he rescued, a knight in shining armor to collect his prize after rescuing the woman.

But he didn't act like it.

She sighed. He treated her differently than the other women on the ship… almost as an equal. It could've been he poured out emotional confessions to her while she was in a coma, which she heard and retained… well just the main jist of it. Father was killed as a Starfleet Officer, he was born on a shuttle at the same time, escaping from the wreckage. His mother dated a list of assholes, most of them violent towards his mother and himself. He grew up angry at the world.

And now his job was saving it, and the surrounding galaxy as well.

She sighed, and groaned again. She hated that that fact made her heart flutter.

* * *

_As always thanks for reading, and PLEASE leave a review!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Thank's for reading! Enjoy._

* * *

**CHAPTER 14**

The day after, Kamira broke her resolve and decided she would wear the uniform.

Only thanks to Kirk's comment that got her paranoid about her being a weirdly dressed damsel in distress. Only then did she start notice people staring at her, and then whispering to their friends.

She rifled through the wardrobe room, going through the dresses and skirts, and in the back found a red long-sleeved dress.

The label was worn out, but she liked the sleeves, different from the short sleeves of the female cadets on board. She found an extra blue one in the same style, and grabbed the pants and shirt just in case.

She was back in her room, zipping up the black boots when Uhura beeped in on the communicator, telling her that they were nearing the Prisoner Colony and Kirk was getting the ship ready for attack.

She ran through the halls, getting used to the length of the dress on her legs, but enjoying the comfort of the boots.

The lift to the bridge opened and she stepped through. Kirk looked back and smiled at her for a moment, but did a double take.

"Excuse me, Commander Pike," he said quickly, then turned and walked over to her quickly, stopping when he was too close, fingering the hem of her sleeve.

"You decided to wear the uniform."

"What are you doing, you can't just cut off a Commander like-"

"It's an older version of the uniform. I really like it," he whispered.

She coughed.

"It wasn't you… my jeans ripped and I couldn't find anything else-"

"I don't care what it was… I'm just glad you're in uniform. You're part of my crew; you belong on the bridge now."

She blushed and turned her head, walking over to sit next to Uhura, tapping the screen in front of her to distract herself from the knowing feeling of Kirk looking at her.

She glanced over at Uhura, who only wiggled her eyebrows.

Kirk was back at the Captains chair, leaning against it.

"How's communication?" Pike asked.

"They are still refusing our signal, Commander," Uhura replied. Kamira was next to her, tapping the screen with both hands now, eventually shaking her head, giving up. She (usually) had a knack at communications, and was a big help to Uhura. It didn't hurt they had quickly become great friends over tequila.

"Their weapons are armed and ready, shield power undetermined," Chekov added.

"You are capable, Captain Kirk. Get the colony back in order. You have the manpower and willpower. Contact me once you come back, you hear?" Pike asked.

Kirk nodded, not smiling.

"Will do, sir. Kirk out."

Uhura shut off the screen and cut the line. Kamira turned her chair to look at Kirk, who was still staring where the screen was, now a window showing deep space. He was concerned, she could tell. He was tense; biting his lip.

"Well, crew. I'll see you on the other side. Stay strong; keep my communicator's signal working. Get ready for a fight," he said. He then turned and walked to the lift.

"Captain!" Kamira called out, and stood up. Kirk kept walking, and Kamira followed him, walking towards the lift.

Uhura shook her head and smiled, letting out a sigh.

"Mamihlapinatapei," she said slowly.

"Mamihoo?" Sulu asked.

"Mamihlapinatapei," Uhura repeated. "It's Yaghan, of Tierra del Fuego. A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire, but which neither one wants to start - or initiate first."

Sulu shook his head, and Shea only grinned.

"I think our Capitan's in trouble…" Shea said.

Kamira slipped into the lift the moment before the door swiveled closed.

"Kamira, what are you doing here?" Kirk asked surprised from his spot in the corner. He stood up straight, regaining his Captain's pose.

Kamira stood in the middle as the lights flashed over them as the lift made its ascent. She was fidgeting with a stretchy blue bracelet made of beads and yarn around her wrist. She looked up to see Kirk watching her intently.

"This was a present from my sister, Jo, when we were little. I always considered it lucky for me, a protective charm. I thought… you might wear it, make it your lucky charm. I know it sounds stupid and childish-"

"Thank you, Kamira," he interrupted in a soft voice, smiling as he stepped forward. He held out his hand in a fist, allowing for her to put it on. She smiled and her cheeks turned a light pink as she did so, sliding it on and making sure it didn't snap him when she let go.

Kirk opened his hand and grabbed her arm. When she looked up he leant down, his lips met hers.

It wasn't a heated or wild kiss. It was delicate, intimate. He moved soft lips against hers as he pulled her close, a hand around her waist, the other holding her head. She reciprocated with the same energy, pressing harder with her lips and her body, moving her hands to his neck.

The lift started to slow down, the hum getting louder.

Kamira pulled back, but Kirk held her close. He nestled his nose against hers, breathing as heavily as she was.

"Thank you," he said again, before letting go of her and stepping back, right as the doors opened to the bustling transport bay.

Kamira stood there, feeling warm but slightly shaking, staring as Kirk walked into the transport room and took control immediately. She brought a hand to her lips as the doors closed.

She was in the middle of the chaos, yelling orders and taking care of patients left and right. He caught her at a comatose patient, as she tucked in the blankets.

"Lena," he said.

She jumped, but regained her composure quickly.

"Yes, Officer?"

He frowned at that, he usually called her Leon or Doc. Something must have been off.

"Well, I'm off to the prisoner colony, leaving you in charge. You know what it means if I don't come back, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Good luck, see you later," she said dismissively, focusing on the next patient who had a heart defect.

"Well… goodbye," McCoy said, frowning still.

"See you soon," she muttered, moving the XRAY scanner over the patient's body.

He stood there and watched her for a second or more before he turned and left, feeling confused, and even a tiny bit hurt. He knew she was busy, but he didn't want to leave her like that, especially going to a dangerous mission.

* * *

_Please leave a review! Good or bad, I just want to hear your opinions and constructive criticism._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Okay guys," Kirk sighed, scratching his jaw as he looked around the transport bay.

"This is an attack. We have a serious mission here. Normally this would be set phaser's to stun, but due to the hostility of the situation, set them to kill. There is another group of our crew that is bringing a shuttle soon after our boarding, for extra safety back to our ship. If anyone feels that they cannot carry through with this you are free to stay here, without consequence."

* * *

Jessica was shaking. Lena frowned. She had the steadiest hands of all the nurses.

"Jess, what's wrong?" she asked, grabbing for her shaking hand that held the X-ray over a patient's still healing leg.

Jess shook her head, her short black hair flipping back and forth as she smiled weakly.

"Spill," Lena said. "And don't make me command you to, I know something's wrong."

"It's just that… don't tell anyone but I'm kind of seeing a crew member… on security. Jackson."

"What's got you nervous then?"

"The mission they're all going on. They're going to take back the prisoner colony."

"WHAT?!" Lena yelled out. She stopped, and looked around at the now silent room, all eyes staring at her.

"Uhm, sorry about that guys, just received great news," she said, and the personnel went back to their work. "What?!" she said again, normal tone this time. Jessica looked at her, confused.

"Why do you think everyone's on edge? Most of the officers are going, all of the security personnel, they're expecting a big fight."

"Oh, shit. I gotta go, just… tell whoever is next on the chain is in control for now," she said quickly, turning and rushing to the nearest lift.

* * *

"Now we're going to be entering at an abandoned hangar. There is no life form there. We all transport and regroup before we take action. Red-shirts go first," Kirk continued. A group of red-shirts stepped up onto the platform, and in a few seconds strings of yellow light surrounded them and they disappeared. The next group stepped forward.

"This is suicide. They're all criminals, trained for killing and fighting," Bones muttered to Kirk.

"We're trained for fighting as well. And we've made it this far, right?" he replied, a special grin on his face.

At that moment the doors slid open and Lena came spilling in, out of breath.

"Captain, I object!" she shouted. Kirk turned and raised an eyebrow at her as she straightened her coat and uniform, all the while catching breath.

"Object to what, exactly, Doctor Klipp?"

"To Leon- Officer McCoy going on the mission, sir."

"Klipp," McCoy said darkly, and walking straight up to her and leaning his head in to whisper. "What are you doing?"

He had just talked to her earlier, explaining that he was going on the mission. She had acted distant as she cared for the patients, not even giving him a glance.

She shook her head, pushing him aside so she could address Kirk straight on.

"Captain, I believe it would be unwise for Dr. McCoy to assist with this mission. Given the still fragile-

"Fragile?" Leon repeated.

"-state of his leg, I believe it would be wise to have another officer assist you," Milena continued after giving Leon a look. "May I suggest Nurse Adell? He did mention once he had trained heavily in Krav Maga."

"Klipp," McCoy growled furiously. How dare she do this to him, here?

"Fine. Let Adell know he is expected at the shuttle bay in 30 minutes, he will assist on the mission," Kirk said, his eyebrow still rasied.

"Jim-" Bones tried, but Kirk shook his head.

"I can't have you at any less than 100% for this, Bones. You know the situation.

McCoy only glared, glancing between Lena and Kirk. He then growled, grabbing Lena's arm tightly and steering her out of the bridge and to the nearest lift.

"Okay. Okay… OKAY!" Lena said as she tried tugging out of his grasp. She finally got loose and held her arm as she moved to the other side of the lift.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" he said loudly.

"Chief, you're not in the right condition to do a strenuous and dangerous mission like this."

"Condition? As a doctor I think I know a thing or two about _conditions_."

"As a Doctor - yes. But as you… not really."

"What?" McCoy said, relaxing his furrowed eyebrows into a confused look.

She took a step forward as she dropped her hands. "As you, Bones, Leon- whatever- you don't get to be your own doctor because you're… proud." As she finished her sentence the doors slid open to an empty medical bay. She recognized it as one of the lower level ones, completely out of use. It was mostly just storage for supplies and files.

"You still aren't making any sense, woman," he said as he walked towards one of the nearby cabinets, finding a bag and beginning to fill it with the only supplies left.

"You're still limping, McCoy, even without your cane. You think that people don't notice, and probably a lot of people don't, but I do. And your ribs, you still wince when you reach for something far away," she said quickly. McCoy frowned, and stared.

"So because of a limp and a crack, my 'doctor' won't let me go on the mission."

"It's more than that Leon! Dammit this is a rogue prisoner colony we're talking about! The same one that lead to the injury of your leg! Do you know how dangerous that is? I thought it was just another 'hey we're exploring your planet' mission! Not_ revisiting _a hostile-"

"Dangerous? Woman, this is Starfleet; everything is dangerous."

"Y- you- you… ugh!" Lena gave up and looked down. Shit, she was _caring_ for him now. This wasn't just attraction…

"Why didn't you just tell me this before I left for the briefing?" he asked somewhat angrily.

"Because I found out after you left!" she yelled back, now extremely annoyed. At him, and herself. How could she let this happen?

"You couldn't just use a communicator, could you? 'Hey, McCoy, this mission is really dangerous; I think you should still rest your knee…' not that it would make any difference. But in front of everybody?"

"I thought you guys were almost leaving, I wasn't sure where you were! I ran to the bridge first, but you weren't there!"

"Dammit, why were you running around?"

She refrained from yelling 'Because I CARE, you stupid, arrogant man!'

Instead she sighed, and decided to leave. That would be best.

"Listen. I apologize if I embarrassed you-" McCoy let out a loud "Hah!" and she stopped.

And frowned. How could she possibly have feelings for him? It couldn't be his temper, with his spitfire eyes. Or his mocking tone and the grin that came along with it. Not the way he would let her small quirks slide by even if they were against regulations. Couldn't be that it was only her he seemed to talk to amongst the doctors and nurses. Or the way they sometimes caught glances at each other during work, at the eating hall, or in the command room…

Shit, she was in trouble. She looked up at him staring her down.

After a second or two he frowned and took a step towards her. She unknowingly took a step back and that made him stop short, his brows furrowing.

"Lena, what is it?"

"What?" she asked shakily. Wasn't she leaving?

"You've got that weird look and I know it means you're thinking too hard. Probably some crazy shenanigans or whatever, but tell me what it is."

"Nothing, Doc, absolutely nothing. Again, sorry to have embarrassed you and your manhood, however I need to get-"

"Dammit, what is it?" he interrupted and walked towards her. She stood her ground and he stopped a foot away.

"-going," she finished, her eyes moving up to look at him. He stared her down, almost demanding her to say something. She didn't, but soon his face relaxed. She stopped her glare and then realized she would have to transfer to a different ship. Feelings always muddled things up. Always.

"Hell," he said suddenly jarring her thoughts, "I wasn't going to last much longer anyways."

He reached for her, hands grabbing her waist to pull her to him.

She smiled when he kissed her. When he applied more pressure, his tongue teasing her lips, she grabbed his shirt, wanting to get closer. She must have applied too much pressure to his ribs as she pressed her body to his, because he winced and made a small sound of pain. She wrenched out of his grasp and got away, stuttering apologies.

"Milena," he tried calming her down, but she kept moving away from him. "Dammit, stand still!"

"No," she said, and she walked away, heading towards the lift to go back to where the other people were. She could control herself then.

"Lena, I-"

"I'm so stupid. There I was keeping you from going on a mission, and now… I'm kissing you. I'm not doing anything right today, am I?" she said shakily, almost at the lift.

"Actually," he grumbled, grabbing her shoulders and turning her around. "It was _me_ who kissed you."

She looked at him for a single second and she lost it. She grabbed his face and kissed him this time.

He made a slight growl with his throat as he brought their bodies together. She smiled against his lips as she snaked her arms around his neck. She couldn't help it, she felt lightheaded and there were lights behind her eyes, and she felt his hand move down her sides and waist and rest low on her back. Really low.

He pulled back and kissed down her cheek to her neck, his hands now moving up her ribs. She giggled softly at the ticklish feeling and ran her hands up to his hair, held his head and pulled his face back to hers, wanting more of him and his lips.

'_This time only, this time only_,' Lena repeated in her mind over and over again. However as his hands moved to her stomach and down further, her breath hitched as she threw her head back in a moan.

"Leon," she said breathlessly as she moved her hands to his shoulders to grasp his shirt tightly.

"Bed. Your quarters or mine, sweetheart, yours or mine," he said as he cupped her and she groaned even louder.

"No," she said barely in a whisper, kissing him again, licking his lips, moving down his neck and gripping his muscled arms.

"No, what? My room then," he said, but she moved backwards, bringing him with her as she sat on the nearest biobed.

"Here," she said loudly, kissing him harder and letting her hands roam everywhere. "Now."

"Jesus," he said and let go of himself for another kiss. He then pulled back, but she kept her grip on him so their bodies didn't part.

"Leon, please. Here. Now," she said as she kissed his neck and moved her fingers to the hem of his shirt. She pulled upwards, and he lifted his arms, and then threw the shirt down to his feet.

"Fine, but after this we're going to my quarters for round two."

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Lena woke up groggily, feeling _too_ rested. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times before moving to stretch, but found that one of her arms was immobilized. She blinked again, now fully awake, and turned her head slowly to come face to face with a sleeping McCoy, his arm linked in hers almost protectively as he slept on his stomach.

He looked peaceful. And as always, too damn sexy. She sighed and closed her eyes for a second or two.

Shit. She slept over.

They'd went to his quarters, more like ran. She'd argued that his were closer than hers, but it really wasn't – it was easier to sneak out than kick out.

She spared herself a few more seconds to stare at him up close before she started to slowly inch out of McCoy's sleeping grip.

Sexual tension was taken care of, time to move on.

She hastily dressed into her old scrubs. She took another moment to watch McCoy in an unknown state of calm while he slept; his hair messy, his mouth tilted in a sleepy dreamy grin.

She pressed the button and the door slid open. She resisted looking back as she left.

* * *

"Captain, we've got returning crew in the transport room!"

"Sir - I uh, Captain! Mission shuttle just pulled in, prepare the medical bay."

The transmissions played out loud in the bridge. Kamira let out a small cry and stood up immediately. She saw the multiple pairs of eyes on her, and sat back down, turning her chair to face the control screen.

"Nobody saw that, right?" Kamira muttered to Uhura.

She let out a small laugh as she notified the medical bay of incoming injuries.

"Right. Nobody saw that..."

"Very good. Medical bay has been notified," Spock told the shuttle and transport officers. "Sulu," he said.

"Yes Captain."

"Let's move and hide behind Jornox 6, it is a heavy gaseous planet and should hold a good place to regroup and allow for warp."

"Great idea, Captain, will do," Sulu said, and muttered something to Shea, who was on the controls for Chekov while he as in the transport room to help with beaming. She nodded, and the ship slowly started to move.

"Kamira, please attend to the medical bay," Spock said.

"C- Captain?" she asked as she slowly stood up.

"Due to the influx of patients being received, Commander McCoy will be extremely busy. Somebody needs to keep control of the bay. Hurry."

"Captain?" she stood there, dumbfounded. Why would he choose her to-

For a split second, the corner of Spock's mouth twitched, and he gave a kurt nod.

"And inform Officer Milena to keep the bridge updated on Captain Kirk's situation as well."

"Captain." She nodded, and in a trance walked to the lift. When the door slid closed she broke her unbroken posture and fell against the wall as she held her head.

What had she done? She kissed him before he left, gave him her damn lucky bracelet she's never taken off in more than twenty years. And now...

The lift opened to a loud and bustling Medical Bay, just as Spock had predicted.

Kamira stepped out so she didn't get stuck on the lift, and could only watch the chaos.

"Kamira!"

It was James' voice. Her head never stilled, looking over every face to find him.

"Kamira! Kamira!" his voice was gurgled, and strained. He was in pain. She turned her head and followed the noise, and finally found him.

She ran, pushing and weaving through the other bodies, muttering apologies as she finally reached the bio-bed he was moving restlessly on.

"Oh, god, James!" she said, rushing forward. He brought a hand to her cheek, and she ignored her brain screaming at her to stop when she threw her arms around him and nuzzled his shoulder as she hugged him, the feeling of warmth overwhelming her.

"You're okay," he said strained.

"You can't be serious James!" she said, pulling away, he was now smiling deliriously. "I'm not the one who overtook a prisoner colony! And you made it out alive, barely!"

"I knew…"

"Move aside, girlie, he'll be fine" a nurse interrupted, pushing her aside. She moved to the edge of the bed, at his feet. He attempted to slap away the nurse with only one of his hands, as she prodded him with needles and scanned him with a large screen x-ray. She noticed that he still had the bracelet.

"James, stop that and let the woman do her work! You're hurt, and the ship with its crew needs their captain."

He stared at her, and then dropped his hand. The nurse sent Kamira thankful look, and started taking the normal vitals. She finished quickly and left, and Kamira stepped closer to the bed. He reached out and squeezed her hand.

"What about you?"

"What?"

"You said my ship and crew need me. Do you?"

She stared back at him, his blue eyes shining underneath the harsh lights.

"James, I-"

Then his smile disappeared as his mouth hung open, his grip on her becoming lax, and those blue eyes rolled up in his head as his body started seizing.

"James!" she yelled out. She tried to hold his head to stop his shaking, but his whole body was writhing on the biobed.

"Goddammit, somebody help the Captain!" she screamed, still holding onto James.

At that, a whole swarm of doctors and nurses came forward, Lena included, and she looked as despaired as Kamira felt.

"Okay, Kamira I know you want to be here, but we need space," she gently said as she pushed her away.

"Uhm, Spock! Spock want's updates on Kirk!" she said, remembering at the last second. Lena gave a final nod before the privacy curtain was turned on.

Kamira left, shaking, ears pounding as she wove between the crowded bay, abandoning her given 'task' and heading to her room.

* * *

Lena was reaching for more bandages from the shelving unit, her hands shaking after having to deal with Kirk. It was bad enough to see her captain and semi-friend so weak and vulnerable, but when she had to break the news to Spock of his condition, the silence from Spock on the communicator before he replied ripped her apart.

A hand grabbed her outreached wrist and pulled. She gasped and could only glance to see it was McCoy before he dragged them into the small cleaning unit room. He flicked the small light on, casting a candle like glow on them.

"You left."

That's all he said. That's all he had to say to get her heartbeat quickening.

"I needed to get ready for my shift," she said. Did her voice sound shaky?

McCoy stepped forward, and she backed away, bumping into an all metal, knocking it down, but resting her back against the wall as McCoy moved in close.

"Couldn't even say goodbye?"

"You were sleeping. I didn't want to wake you."

"I would've woken you right up…" he said, reaching forward. Lena stepped sideways, avoiding his touch, knowing it would be disastrous.

"Well I'm usually a morning person anyways. And then there's half the ship's crew to take care of..." she said, side stepping McCoy again and reaching the door handle.

McCoy grabbed her wrist, but she had already opened the door, the chaos invading the silence of the unit.

"There could be twenty lives on the brink of death, and I would rather pull you back into my room and teach you that what we shared last night wasn't just a onetime thing-" a sharp cry of pain resonated in the air between them. McCoy sighed, and let go of her.

"But, right now there _are _more than twenty lives on the brink of death, and we're going to save them.

* * *

_You know what to do. (Review!)_


	17. Chapter 17

_As always, please leave a review! And I'm searching for a BETA as well, if you're interested let me know!_

* * *

**Chapter 17**

She was exhausted after the rush of patients from the mission, and Lena didn't bother to tell anyone she was ending her shift early. After her fifth dropped x-pod, she decided to call it a night and left. She was a moment away from collapsing to the floor and taking a nap on the cold hard tile in the middle of the hall.

Literally leaning against the cold white walls to prop herself up and help walk to her room, she stopped when she saw a figure where her room was a little ways down.

She groaned, knowing who it was.

She brought out her communicator and called Uhura.

_"Lieutenant Uhura speaking." _

"Hey it's Lena, can I crash at your room? I'm too tired to even get to my own," she whispered.

_"Why are you whispering?"_

Lena looked up, and saw McCoy approaching her, walking quickly.

"Shit."

_"What?"_

"Uh, nothing, I'm just so tired, is it okay?" she asked, backing away, and then turning to walk.

_"Wait, hold on someone's at the door,"_ Lena hurried her pace. She started feeling faint.

_"Uhm, actually, I have a guest that just arrived…" _Uhura whispered herself.

"Oh! Okay, I'll call Kamira."

"That won't be necessary," McCoy growled from behind her. She gasped, and turned. He grabbed the communicator and cut off Uhura mid-question.

"That was very rude," she muttered, reaching out to grab it back. He held his hand away and grabbed her outreached arm, leaning in close.

"So is avoiding the man who devoured you last night."

She closed her eyes, and shook her head.

"I'm tired, Leon."

"So am I," he said. Then he bent down, and threw her over his shoulder. He straightened up with a short grunt, and then started walking to her room.

"Can we just talk about it tomorrow? I'm thankful for the ride-"

He laughed, and she sighed.

He reached her door, but didn't let her down. She punched at his back, but he didn't flinch.

"Code?"

"Put me down, Leon."

One of his hands on her calf slowly started to creep up her leg, reaching above her knee…

"Leon!" she squirmed, but he held her tighter to him, his hand squeezing her thigh.

"You're not avoiding this," he said. "Code?"

She let out a breath in defeat. "4459," she muttered. He punched in the code, opening the door, he walked through. She expected him to throw her on the bed, but he bent down and let her down on her feet. She stepped back, stumbling as she straightened her uniform.

"Sure, come in why don't you?" she asked sarcastically, dropping onto a nearby chair.

"You want me here, don't deny it."

"I am, though. I wanted you last night, and I had you," she said confidently. She always only had them once, before she got to close. She was supposed to continue to say that it was all its going to be, but she froze. She took a deep breath.

"Now there's nothing left to do," she said, definitely shakily.

He walked up to her quickly. She looked up, gripping the arms of the chair tightly. He reached down and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered as his hand lingered.

"There's plenty more to do, Lena. You just need to accept the inevitable; we're not done," he said. He then picked her up, her legs automatically wrapping around his hips. He smiled, and she took a small intake of breath, sending chills around her body.

* * *

Uhura flipped her communicator shut, not taking her eyes off her 'guest'.

"Come in," she said to Spock, turning to let him in. She heard the door close behind them.

"What are you," she started, turning back to face him, but he grabbed her and kissed her, like never before. It was passionate, and he slanted his head as he moved his body closer. When he bit her lip lightly, she pulled back.

"Spock, what is going on? I'm not complaining but-"

"At the prisoner colony you came into my mind. And I felt… I'm not even sure how to describe it, which is what puzzles me the most," he said, and sat down on her bed. Uhura came over and sat down next to him, taking his hands in hers.

"It was probably the same feeling that I was having back here: fear."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You do not frighten me, Nyota, why would I encounter fear while thinking of you?"

She smiled, and shook her head.

"For me, it was the kind of fear of not seeing you again, the fear that you would return very hurt," she said, trying to egg him on. He stayed silent, a small frown on his lips.

After a couple more seconds of comfortable silence, he opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him.

"It's alright, Spock. Can we just sleep? I'm tired, I bet you are too."

He only nodded, and they curled up under the covers, him holding her in his arms, not bothering to change out of their uniforms.

* * *

_So I brought back Spock and Uhura, but they are such a difficult relationship to write! Spock is definitely an enigma, to put it in simpler terms!_

_And don't worry, this story isn't going to drag on any longer, twists and turns coming soon!_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The lift door slid open to a surprisingly quiet medical bay. She stepped forward and looked around confused.

"Kamira, what a good surprise!" McCoy said, and she turned to see him walking towards her, an actual grin on his face.

"Uhm, who the hell are you?"

He shrugged, the grin not changing.

"Come, we need to talk." He brought an arm around her and walked her towards Kirk's bed.

"Give Milena my regards," she muttered, and he smiled for a second before turning to his usual scowl. He had actually smiled.

"Hot damn, Bones!"

"Not now, this is actually serious" he said as they reached his biobed. Kirk was asleep, still as a rock, dressed in a medical gown.

"What is it," she said; didn't ask. By the sudden turn in attitude from Bones, something was up.

"First are the physical injuries. Broken hand, fractured ribs, and of course are the multiple cuts and bruises, which are healing fast."

"Cut to the chase, Bones. Why isn't he awake? Why was he seizing?"

He looked down.

"Don't make me yell. You won't like it."

He looked back up, and took a deep breath-

"And simple, no medical jargon."

"From what I can recollect of Spock's accounts, Kirk got a few hits to the head during the fight. There was some minor damage to his brain, but it caused multiple seizures. And the continued inactivity in his brain… caused a coma."

She blinked.

"Seriously?"

Bones nodded.

"The tables have truly turned."

"I guess they have," she walked up and placed a hand over his. His skin was barely warm.

"He doted and cared for you like a sick puppy during yours, and you will be doing the same to him."

"Excuse me? I'm not just some-"

"You really are stupidly naive with this whole thing, aren't you?"

"What the hell? What exactly do you have-"

"Every single time Kirk returns from a mission, hurt or not, he would either ask for the best pain medications or the status update on the Ship and her crew's condition. But do you want to know the first thing he asked Spock the moment the shuttle safely landed at home?"

"McCoy-"

"He asked for you. He wanted to make sure that _you_ were okay."

She froze. There was no other reaction to it, she was completely stunned.

"He was delirious, just like he was in the medical bay-"

"You know he talked to you every day after we rescued you? In your… long term sleep, he would spend hours at a time, locking in the privacy curtain around you two as he poured his heart out. And then you woke up… and treated him like no other woman has before. Indifferent."

"He didn't pour his heart out, he just told me childhood stories and such," she said without thinking, lightly touching a deep purple bruise on his arm.

McCoy did a double take, and it took a second for her to realize she'd said it out loud.

She hadn't told _anybody_ that in her subconscious mind she knew more about Kirk than she should, that anybody should. By simple logic she figured Kirk had talked to her in her coma. But hours at a time?

"Are you shitting me right now?"

"I don't remember _everything_, McCoy!"

"You're not kidding." He looked surprised.

"This is definitely something to research-"

"Don't you dare, Bones! I swear to god if you tell Kirk that I know some very intimate and emotional details about his life without him knowing it, I will do everything I can to frame you as some traitor or something and get you back to the prisoner colony that gladly beat you up."

He stilled, and straightened up a bit, holding his shoulders back as he took a step forward.

"Since you are… I guess who you _are_; I will let that weak threat slip by. However now that you are in uniform, I guess you are agreeing to the ranks of the Starfleet. Now, as your Commanding Officer, I order you to-"

"I'm not an official member of Starfleet! I'm not getting the residuals, and I didn't attend The Academy. You know I'm just wearing the uniform so I'm not sticking out like a sore thumb!"

"What's going on here? Raised voices in the bay are never a good sign," Lena said walking up, her head tucked down as she checked someone's chart.

"Your boyfriend here was trying to _command _me even though I'm not officially Starfleet," Kamira said.

The chart dropped and clattered to the ground, the screen cracking.

"Shit!" Lena bent down to get it up.

"But no, he's not that, definitely not that."

"Definitely?" McCoy asked. Lena froze, and looked up. She stood, tucking the broken chart under her arm as she stared him down.

"Kamira, what has he been bugging you about?"

"I am right here, you know. And she actually caught on to some of what Kirk had said to her while in her deep sleep-"

"McCoy!" Kamira exclaimed.

"And I was just telling her to do the same to Kirk, it only seemed fitting," he finished.

Lena looked between Bones and Kamira, and then grabbed her hand and dragged her to Kirk's bed before she turned on the privacy curtain, shutting McCoy out.

"He's right, Kamira. Now I won't even begin to explain how phenomenal it is that you retained Kirk's words, but only good can come from you doing the same to him."

"What good can come from that? Him using my secrets and memories against me? This is why I didn't say anything; I didn't want to make it into a big deal-"

"But it is. And right now, Kirk is in the same position you once were. He needs human contact and speech; it might help him out of this. In simpler terms, your talking might ignite brain waves connected to his ears, which might spark him to awake. I know it's dumb, but just start with something. Do you remember the first things he said to you?" Lena asked.

Kamira sighed, and nodded. It was the day he had stole his mother's boyfriend's antique Corvette and took it for a joy ride before driving it off a cliff. He had been running away from a beating, and got an even worse one when he was taken home by the police cadet.

"I do."

"Well… then start with something along those lines, alright?"

Kamira nodded again, and smiled weakly.

"Sorry about calling him your boyfriend. He just seemed unusually happy when I got here. He actually smiled at me, Lena."

At that, Lena sighed.

"It's a long story but… ugh he's just pushing me when he shouldn't be. He knows it drives me away."

Kamira tilted her head.

"Sometimes a little push can go a long way," she said.

"But I-" Lena started, but the privacy curtain disappeared.

"Doctor Klipp, may I see you for a moment?"

Kamira resisted winking at Lena as she straightened her shoulders and walked out of the range of the bio-bed.

"Remember, you need to start somewhere," she told Kamira, before she nodded, and McCoy brought the privacy curtain back up from his controller.

He cleared his throat.

"You ran out on me again. I've never been ditched in a stranger's bed before."

Her cheeks flushed, and she looked down.

"I'm not too good with the morning after bit, the goodbye's and the-"

"So you've turned this into a game, have you?"

She frowned, and met his gaze, his eyes dark.

"It's not a game McCoy, I've now officially got you out of my system. It's nothing more."

He still frowned, staring her down, not saying anything.

"Doctor! We've got a code green over here!" a nurse said nearby.

Without a second glance Lena left him standing there to take care of a patient.

McCoy turned and looked at the privacy curtain around Kirk's bed.

"Hope you're having more luck than I am," he muttered.

* * *

_Please review! Faster the reviews come in, faster the chapters come out!_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The privacy curtain appeared and wrapped around the biobed, cancelling out the other sounds and sights of the medical bay. Kamira sighed, and brought up a stool to sit on while her hand gripped the edge.

"Well then," she muttered, looking at the sleeping Kirk.

"So, Kirk… or James. You seemed to like it when I called you that. It's a great name; really. Suits you"

She looked at his face again, completely relaxed, as she had never seen before. She laughed, standing up as she shook her head.

"Start somewhere…" she muttered, and paced around.

"Well, I didn't have the childhood you had. Nobody should've had what you had. My foster mom died when I was 7. My dad was so heartbroken he stayed alone for years. Only after I moved out and Jo went to college did he find someone else. Olivia. She grew lavender all over our front yard, and detoxed my dad off coffee and switched him to tea. She loved oldie's movie musicals. _Singing in the Rain_ was her favorite, she was so excited to show it to me. It became my favorite too. It's literally watching another world. So much color and flowers and trees, and their cars had wheels, like the Corvette you drove. I can't imagine what that would have been like," she said. She let out a small laugh.

There was a rapid beeping, and she looked up at his heart monitor. His heart was beating faster.

"James?" she asked and placed her hand on top of his. The beeping got faster, and then slowed back down to its slow tempo. His heart was back to normal.

She sighed, and sat back down on the stool, rolling it close to his bed, keeping her hand over his.

"Thinking of crazy childhood shenanigans I've done… the only one that comes to mind is when Jo and I decided to ditch school during lunch. I was in 7th grade, she was in 6th. We had walked to a nearby park and played for the rest of the day, until the police cadet's found us and brought us home. Our foster dad was furious, but he was laughing, too. He had done the same more than once when he was in school, he'd told me. He took us out for ice cream for dinner that night. We had so much fun."

She sighed, and drew back surprised when she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

She jumped when the privacy curtain went down and Spock was standing on the other side of the bed.

"Captain," she muttered, wiping her eye as she stood up.

"You are crying."

She let out a laugh, and nodded. She'd rarely talked with Spock, and was not used to his bluntness.

"Yes, Captain, I was. I was recalling some of my own memories."

He looked down at Kirk, and then back to her.

"You are talking to an unconscious man, Kamira."

"Yes, James is not awake, but talking helped for me, it should help him too. Is there something wrong, Captain?"

"Seeing as you are not an official member of Starfleet, however appreciated, your obligation to follow the necessary protocol of addressing your superiors is not needed. You can call me Spock."

Kamira raised her eyebrows.

"Was it something I said?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm just surprised by this sudden… warmth coming from you."

"Well Kirk has a certain affiliation with you, and as his friend, I am intrigued about you."

"Oh… Is it a good or bad curiosity?"

"Fairly good, I can reassure you."

She nodded, and waited. Spock only stared her down.

"You're not like his other… acquaintances," he continued.

She rolled her eyes, and stood up.

"Listen, I'm not his anything, got that? For all I know this is some stupid White Knight syndrome. Nobody gets that I'm not just another floozy of his."

Spock stared at her before he spoke.

"If it would help me understand, I can perform a mind meld. It might help you sort out your own thoughts and emotions," he said, bringing up his hand. She leant back, shaking her head.

"I've read about it, I'm not comfortable with that."

Spock tilted his head.

"You read about the Vulcan species? May I inquire as to why?"

She clasped her hands together and started to wring them.

"Well, truthfully… I accessed the archives and read up on Romulan's when I awoke. I wanted to learn about my captors. And your species are linked, so… that's how I know."

"Interesting indeed. Kirk hated me performing it on him as well."

She looked down at James, and had an idea. She looked back up as she spoke.

"Would a mind meld on James work now? Would you be able to help him?"

Spock's eyebrow twitched when she used Kirk's first name.

"I understand why you asked that question, however it would be violating of Kirk's trust if I did it without his knowledge. And the mind meld wouldn't work as well in his current state."

She shook her head.

"Stupid question, I'm sorry to put you in that position."

"It's quite alright; I understand the desperation behind what's happened. I feel somewhat despaired myself."

"Well wouldn't something like this speed up the trip back home - I mean earth?"

Spock frowned.

"Captain Kirk did not inform you?"

"Inform me of what?"

"The Enterprise is currently on a five year solo mission. We are only in our second year of the said mission. We will not be returning to Earth for a while."

Kamira sat back down automatically, resting her hands on the biobed to keep herself upright.

"Please, I know you can't lie. Does this mean I'm on this ship for three more years?"

Spock gave a short nod.

"But… he was always saying we were going home, even Nyota said so too."

"They cleverly left out the time frame of said journey. I am sorry you had to find out this way. However I must say the way that you have affected members of our crew lead me to believe that this is a good situation. Even though I was directly against your rescue, as well as your staying on this ship since it is in direct violation of several Starfleet regulations…" he looked down at Kirk, and the corner of his mouth twitched as he brought a hand to rest on the sleeping Captain's shoulder. "Kirk has taught me over the years that some rules are meant to be broken."

Kamira looked into his eyes, his own staring back as though bearing into her soul, and she understood what Uhura saw. He was so regal and refined. But there is a subtle compassion within him; she saw it in his eyes. He was hurting over Kirk's predicament as well; probably even more.

"Three years. I can't… there's no possibility-"

"It would raise flags if a federation shuttle intercepted a mission. There is no way for you to go home."

She stopped, and looked down. If Spock said it, she had no reason not to trust him. She really was stuck here for three years.

Her stomach had the perfect timing to grumble loudly then.

Spock barely grinned.

"May I suggest a full meal? That might help. I assure you, Kirk is getting the best attention."

She nodded, and stood up.

"Don't feel bad Spock. It was better I found out about this sooner than later. Thank You," she said, before turning to leave, making her way towards the cafeteria bay.

* * *

She grabbed two steaks, not caring about portions as she stacked her plate with comfort food. She held the tray with both hands as she made her way to a small corner table, needing to think things over, and getting angry over the rule that no food was allowed out of the cafeteria, so she couldn't eat in her room. She would feel better eating alone in her room, steaming, pacing around, punching her pillow to get out the resentment that everybody kept a certain three year detail from her.

"Kamira!" she heard her name called. She looked over to see Scotty, Chekov, Shea, and Kira.

She hated to do it, but she knew she wouldn't be good company. She smiled weakly and waved, but kept on her path to the corner table. She sat down and started on her food, only staring at her plate.

She heard someone approach, and saw out of the corner of her eye said someone slide in across from her.

"You hurt Chekov's feelings. I don't think I've ever seen that kid so upset."

She didn't reply to McCoy, just kept on eating.

"Scotty wants to show you his new twist on a steak and cheese sandwich. The steaks are the buns, the buns are the meat. Messy but oddly delicious, I must say."

"What do you want, McCoy?"

"To know why you're taking on my persona. I know that Kirk's coma must be-"

"All of you failed to tell me that I'm stuck here for three more years," she interrupted, looking up at him, "What have you got to say about that?"

McCoy frowned.

"Due to the still... unfamiliar state you had with us and the ship, discovering that you would be spending more time than-"

"Don't try that therapy shit on me. I have a feeling nothing will fix this. I was lead to believe we were on our way home!"

"Who lead you to that? Did anybody explicitly say we're going home?"

She opened her mouth, and then stopped. He was right; nobody had directly said they were going home right away.

"I – somebody should've had the-"

"This is the ship and her crew's first ever long term mission. We all miss our homes. None of us go out of our way to bring it up. Especially me, I'm still not used to space."

She frowned, and shoveled more food into her mouth to keep it full.

"Listen, the only thing you can do is make a temporary home here. When we finally reach home, you'll be on your way."

She nodded, but had a weird feeling. Did she want that?


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Lena was making the necessary rounds, double checking on Kirk and his vitals.

"How is he?" McCoy asked, coming up close next to her.

"He's exactly the same. Some bruises have healed, but nothing new."

"Double check?" he asked, reaching for the x-pod. She drew her hand back and he caught her wrist. She stilled and turned her head to meet his staring gaze.

"I'd offer a penny for your thoughts," he said, and leaned in a little bit, smiling at her intake of breath, "but I have a feeling they're worth far more."

"I'm not thinking anything," Lena said too quickly, feeling the heat of a blush rise up her face.

"Liar," he whispered, shifting even closer.

She stopped breathing. She really needed air. And a grip.

"Too bad there isn't a device for mind reading yet, right?" she said, pulling her hand away, tucking the x-pod into her pocket. He only smiled more, giving a quick glance to her chest, her neck, and finally resting back on her eyes.

"I don't need something like that to know what you're thinking," Leon said barely whispering. But she was close enough to hear, and opened her mouth to blast him when a nurse cleared their throat.

They stepped away from each other quickly, McCoy coughing.

"Sorry, Officer, but we have an infection with one of the patients, needs immediate attention."

McCoy nodded, and waved his hand shooing the nurse away. He turned back to Lena, and leaned in close, his lips inches away from hers.

"If you don't come to see me after our shift, I'll be banging down your door," he said, and then left.

Lena caught her breath, bringing a hand to her chest to calm her beating heart.

* * *

"My life is complete. I can now die happy," McCoy said as soon as he came back from his release. She was still on top of him, her hair messy around her face, her lips red and bruised from his hard kisses. She gave a sultry laugh and lay down on top of him. He rubbed his nose against hers a few times before finally bringing their lips together in a soft kiss.

She turned over and lay next to him.

She was cowardly, as usual, and didn't go to visit him. And as he promised, he banged and knocked on her door, yelling loudly to bring attention before she let him in. He didn't allow for talking, he just started stripping her as the door closed behind him.

"I'm definitely revoking all of my man rules for you," Lena muttered.

McCoy jerked, and propped himself up to stare at her.

"What?"

The look on his face definitely brought her back to reality. Crashing back.

"Nothing," she said stiffly; because she wouldn't repeat it, definitely not with him looking at her like that. "Nothing at all."

She shoved him away, pushing him off the bed.

"I'd like for you to leave now."

"Lena-" he reached for her but she jumped out of bed and gathered his clothes before flinging them at him.

"Out."

Wisely, he started dressing.

"We're going to have to discuss this."

"Over my dead body."

"Lena," he growled, walking towards her. She hastily looked around and grabbed one of the candlesticks she had as décor in her bland white room. She brandished it and waved it around to send him off.

He stared at her for a moment or so, and then shook his head before leaving. The door closed behind him, and she collapsed on the floor, her head in her hands as she breathed heavily.

She never got close. Everybody she loved either left her or died. And she didn't realize she'd been letting McCoy into her hert until she said it. His reaction was… unexpected. She expected him to leave on his own, not for her to force him.

"I've made a terrible mistake," she moaned out loud.

* * *

_ Just a small filler, hope you enjoyed!_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"Oddly enough, I'll never forget the first time I heard about you," she said, shaking her head.

She'd found a more comfortable chair than the metal stool (from McCoy's office, but he didn't even object when she stole it), and was tapping her fingers on the armrests.

"Being a bartender… you see a lot of characters come and go, but I'd seen nothing like Charlee; she was definitely the worst I'd seen. Thankfully she didn't spill out of her dress, which is something I've seen too many times with other customers. But it was kind of worse just anticipating that moment, you know?"

She stood up and walked around, which she found helped her, it kept her talking.

"She was a fucking _mess_: sobbing one moment, laughing hysterically the next. Her makeup was actually running down her face along with the tears, worse than raccoon eyes. And it was all because of the 'infamous' Jim Kirk of the Starfleet academy. Now don't get me wrong, she was a complete idiot. She was in that condition after a WEEK with you, she always repeated that: 'It was such a great week! I don't know why he won't answer my calls!' The first time I saw her I figured it was at least a year, the mess that she was. But then there were more and more; women getting shitfaced drunk, complaining about a man who charmed them, got into their bed, spent a short while, and left. Declarations of undying love for Jim Kirk, or Captain Kirk, as you eventually became."

She stepped up to his bed, and laid a hand on his.

"I'd like to hear that story sometime."

She felt his hand move, the slightest bit. She kept talking. She looked to his face, and his eyelids were twitching.

"James, please wake up," she said, closing her eyes tight. "I need my friend back," she whispered.

She breathed in and out, calming her excitement.

He hadn't woken up for a week now. All other injuries had healed completely, but he hadn't roused out of his induced coma.

She'd come in every day with at least two different stories or memories to share. Her bartending days, life with her sister and adopted parents, and always wondering who her real parents were but never able to find out. Not after her adopted parents were killed in front of her.

It was a release for her, talking to him; but it was stressful as well, talking to a sleeping Kirk. She wished she was telling him these things while he was awake.

She felt his hand squeeze again, this time stronger. She gasped and sat up, looking towards his face again.

This time she met his piercing blue eyes. Open, awake, staring right back at her. He pulled her towards him, and she moved almost effortlessly, throwing herself down to hug him. His arms snaked around her back as he drew her in closer.

"Good to see those bright eyes open, James," Kamira said, pulling back.

He grinned, but then frowned as he spoke.

"The ship, the crew, how are-"

"Everything is fine, nothing is wrong. Spock decided to wait for you, nothing has really happened."

The privacy curtain disappeared, and McCoy let out a loud laugh as Lena clapped her hands, smiling brightly. Kamira pulled back and stepped away, blushing.

"Goddamit Kirk, only you know how to bring a federation ship to a screeching halt," McCoy said, some spinning machine in his hand as he scanned his body. Lena was scanning his vitals by hand.

"Everything's in order, Doctor," she said curtly.

Kamira raised a brow, and Kirk laughed out loud.

"Guess I missed a lot!" he said. He looked around, and targeted on Kamira.

"How are you?" he asked. Kamira rolled her eyes, but stepped forward.

"Just like the others, waiting for a certain someone to wake up."

He looked down at his hands, fidgeting with Jo's bracelet, the one Kamira had given him before he went on the mission. Kirk then closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, a dawn of realization on his face.

Raising an eyebrow, he looked up at her.

"You're a bartender?"

Kamira gasped, and looked at Lena, who glanced at McCoy, who grinned at Kirk.

"This just got interesting," Bones laughed.

Kamira left, ignoring the calls of her name. It was too much to take was she so stupid to just go with it and talk to him, knowing what would happen. Why wouldn't it? The same happened to her.

* * *

She sighed, and finally turned the hot water off. Showers always helped to clear her mind. And these showers had adjustable pressure, something she'd only read about in catalogs. A bartender's salary didn't provide enough for such pleasantries.

She grabbed the towel, grateful that it was still in use, and there wasn't some gimmicky drying invention to render them obsolete. She grabbed a comb as she pressed the button to open the bathroom door. She started brushing her hair, deciding to let it dry naturally.

She finished quickly enough, and turned to throw it on her bed, her hands coming to grasp her towel to let it loose as well, when she screamed at the sight of Kirk sitting on her bed, making himself at home.

"Christ, James! How the hell did you get in here?"

He smiled, and shrugged.

"Perks of being the Captain."

"And _what_ are you doing here?"

He stood up and walked towards her. She backed away, bumping into the chair. She kept a tight grip on her towel as she backed away towards her dresser.

"You left."

"I… I… I need to get dressed," she muttered and turned around, fumbling in her drawers to grab pajama necessities. She rushed back into the bathroom before he could get another word in.

The door slid closed, and she let out a breath.

She was never good at confrontation. She took her time getting into the spare sweats and shirts she found in the wardrobe room.

"I have all the time in the world, Kamira," she heard his teasing voice.

She sighed, shook her head, and then opened the door.

He was sitting, but stood up the second their gazes met.

She opened her mouth to say something, be he spoke first.

"Excuses are done for now. You know we need to talk. What do you remember from what I told you?" he asked, his eyes almost pleading.

She was going to kill them. She didn't care who would take the place of Bones and Milena, she was going to kill them both

"James… I didn't repeat anything. I… I didn't even realize it was your memories, your stories in my head until after a while."

He nodded, frowned, and turned the chair towards the bed before he sat back down. He motioned for her to sit on the bed, across from him.

She did; crossing her legs, looking down at her hands.

"Olivia sounds amazing. Kind of reminds me of my mom. She didn't have a garden, but she would bring home flowers every other day to fill the house with."

Kamira's head snapped up, and she stared.

"I… I remember the flowers," she said hesitantly. Kirk's eyebrow rose.

"Did I tell you about… about her… boyfriends?"

Kamira looked down, but nodded.

"Kamira, I-"

"Actually the first thing I remember is you telling me about your joy ride with the vintage car. I can't imagine what it was like being in something so classic," she said, bravely lifting her head to look at him.

Kirk grinned, and let out a laugh.

"Yeah… it was a good moment."

"Kirk, I don't think I can-"

"So you're a bartender. That must be great," he egged on.

She sighed, but answered.

"Only sometimes. The schedule sucks, but the money is good. And it's a tossup on the customers. On the less crowded nights, the more… troubled come in. People going through things. And most of them open up, I don't know what it is about disclosing secrets to the person making your drinks, but they definitely let it all out. Those nights were always great for me. At times I helped out, whether giving them a drink or two on the house, or giving whatever advice I could. But even if I had nothing to say-"

"I've been one of those. More than once, actually," James said, shaking his head, looking down at the floor.

"Was that before or after you became Captain?" she blurted out, her curious mind overrunning her mouth.

He looked up at her, an eyebrow raised.

She felt her cheeks heat up, and she looked down.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Both. More-so after, actually."

She looked back up. He stood, his hands still together.

"That was too far, I'm sorry," she said, uncrossing her legs, moving to stand up.

But he was quicker. He took only two steps to reach her, grab her face in his hands, and kiss her. This time, she couldn't help but reciprocate.

A shaky hand rested on his cheek, and he pressed deeper, moving her to lean back. At that, she started shaking her head, breaking from his lips and pushing him back.

"Kamira, I'm so sorry."

She raised an eyebrow, but shook her head as she looked away, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"It's understandable. I've got this white knight syndrome thing; you're feeling attached because of the whole talking to the unconscious me thing - I get it," she said, finally standing up.

"You can't seriously believe-"

"I'm tired, Kirk. You've got a ship to run, and there's still three more years to your mission. You've got work to do," she interrupted.

He stared for more than a few seconds. He looked almost hurt at what she had said. He only nodded, and backed away to the door, pressing the keypad to slide the door open.

"Goodnight, Kamira."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"_BONES_!" the Captain's angry voice reverberated loudly around the medical bay, making everybody jump.

Kirk didn't hesitate as he continued his brisk walk into McCoy's office, stopping at the doorway with his arms crossed and his eyes scanning the room for his culprit.

"Shit," McCoy said under his breath.

"Sorry, Doctor. You're on your own," Nurse Jackie said, shaking her head and raising her arms.

He sighed and made his way towards his office. He'd never seen Kirk so angry or distressed.

Kirk closed the door when McCoy passed through; pressing a few numbers on the key-pad to turn the windows a frosty white.

"How the hell did Kamira find out about the mission?" Kirk said his voice tense and angry. That voice only came out when he tried to intimidate enemies…

"You don't want to know-"

"I can demote you, Bones. Milena would have so much fun being your superior wouldn't she?"

That was too low of a blow.

"It was your First Officer, Captain," McCoy snapped.

Kirk's look of shock was actually worth it.

"So go yell at him," McCoy continued, "I'm human after all, so I don't have the control to keep back the punches, kid."

"I told you to stop calling me that-"

"You've got no crow's feet. Shut up and leave me alone, I've got a Medical Bay to run. What was your job again?" he asked, pressing on the keypad to make the windows clear again before and swinging the door wide open as he left.

Kirk took a deep breath, and brought out his communicator.

"Spock where the hell are you?"

"_I am in Engineering, Captain. Is there a reason as to why you are using profanities?_"

Kirk squeezed his eyes shut before he spoke again.

"Just stay there, we need to talk right away."

* * *

"What in the bloody hell was that about? You think after such a long sleep he'd be well rested," Scotty said, shaking his head as he returned to the control panel.

One of the engines was acting up and he was trying to fix it technically before he started the manual work. Spock was only there to offer help, and have a general watch over things when he got the angry call.

"Some certain situations come to mind…" Spock said. He looked down, focusing on the ground, his brow furrowed.

"But we will find out soon enough," he continued.

Scotty only stared for a few seconds before he turned back to the screen.

Moments later, a yell echoed around the floor, making Scotty jump.

"Spock!"

The man in question broke out of his trance and straightened as Kirk came into view.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Did you break it to her? Did you tell her?" Kirk asked automatically.

"Assuming by 'her', you mean Kamira. And if you mean the subject about our continuous mission… then yes. I did 'break it' to her," Spock replied.

Kirk's face scrunched up, and he let out a small yell before he turned and paced away. He then walked back, stepping right up to Spock.

"WHY?"

"I was visiting you at the Medical Bay, and she was there by your bedside. We engaged in conversation and she mentioned that such a predicament for a Captain would influence the time of travel to your home immediate. I replied with the truth, as always; that our current mission didn't account for such an action."

Kirk's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head before pacing again.

Spock looked over to Scotty, who only shrugged his shoulders, giving a side glance to the Captain.

Spock shook his head.

"May I ask as to why this is so troubling to you?"

Kirk walked back up to Spock, shaking his head.

"Because I wanted to tell… it would have been better if it was broken to her… more easily. Not so bluntly, and you know what I mean."

Spock nodded, but then gave a small shake of his head.

"You are keeping the whole truth from me, Captain. Kamira has been the only one, in the history that we have known each other, to call you by your true first name."

Kirk did a double take, and glanced at Scotty. He stood up quickly and stuttered, looking between his Captain and First Officer.

"I uhm… I'll just get some food then," he muttered, walking away briskly, leaving them alone.

Kirk opened his mouth, but Spock continued.

"If this situation is compromising your duties as a Captain, I need to know."

"Nothing is being compromised, Spock, she's not even Starfleet."

"Exactly. And someone as close in acquaintance to feel the comfort of calling a Captain by their-"

"You know your mind meld trick?" he interrupted.

Spock nodded, titling his head.

"I believe I do know my own capabilities. Kamira as well felt uncomfortable in them; she didn't want me to perform on-"

"Wait, you tried to get into her mind?" he asked, getting angry again.

"I offered, and she refused. Even more intriguing, she also believes that nothing of the intimate sort is going on between the both of you. However then she contradicted herself by requesting I perform a mind meld with yourself, to perhaps assist you out of your... 'sleep'," Spock said, calm as ever. Kirk's face twisted, and he looked away to hide a smile.

"Captain, none of your other… acquaintances have affected you like-"

"Like what? And no, she's not that."

Spock only raised an eyebrow.

Kirk sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Shit," he muttered to himself, walking over to take Scotty's former seat.

"Fine, Spock, how as Kamira changed me?"

"You are insistent about keeping her on this ship as a 'serving' officer of Starfleet. Then there is the evidence of your hatred towards the Romulan's who captured her, which lead to an unplanned capture, which then lead us to the mission disaster of the Prisoner Colony. Then there is the fact that you cannot keep your gaze from her while you both are on the bridge. And finally, there is the way of how adamant you are about telling everyone that your relationship with her is, in your own words, 'not like that'."

Kirk was staring at a spot on the ground, biting his thumb nail, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Captain, excuse my bluntness if it is too-"

"You're fucking right, that's what got me twisted."

Spock stopped, raising an eyebrow. Then, he only grinned.

"What the hell is that about?" Kirk asked.

"Oh, it's just… fickle that someone as cold and discerning as me can have a relationship, yet the human in front of me seems to deny such a possibility."

Kirk frowned, and stood up. He sighed, shaking his head.

"Thanks for the talk, Spock. You can take over the bridge for a bit, right? Just tell everybody I'm still recouping or something. Not to be bothered," he muttered, walking away without waiting to hear an answer.

* * *

_Wowza! So many views! Thanks for taking the time to read, I love writing this, and it makes me so happy to see others enjoying it! More action is coming up!_


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"Everything looks good and normal. It's a relaxing night for once," Sulu said, sighing and leaning back in his chair.

It was quiet on the bridge. Sulu was interim Captain, but stayed in his helmsman seat next to Chekov, who nodded as he leant back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head.

"I kind of like it," he said, humming as he closed his eyes.

Sulu saw something on the screen flicker, and frowned as he leant forward in his chair.

"wait…" he muttered, his fingers flying across the glass.

"What is it?" Chekov asked, looking at the radar but not seeing anything.

"I could've sworn I saw an incoming ship… but it disappeared," Sulu muttered, pressing controls to try to find it at a closer range. After a minute, he gave up in defeat and shook his head.

"I'll send a comm to Engineering," Chekov said with a frown.

I saw something..." Sulu muttered, his eyes now closely watching the screen.

* * *

Kamira was stirred awake with the hiss of her door opening.

She blinked, rubbing one eye, trying to adjust to the dark of her room and the light shining from the hallways.

"James?" she muttered; no one else could open her quarters from the outside.

But when her blurred eyesight focused, she saw that there was more than one figure. And from their shadows, they weren't anybody she'd seen on the U.S. .

"Wait," she said, now more attentive. She moved to sit up but felt a cloth that smelled of gasoline cover her mouth and nose. She kicked and screamed until she blacked out.

* * *

"Lieutenant Uhura," Kirk said from the Captain's chair, some of the first words spoken after he arrived on the bridge the next morning.

"Yes, Captain?" Uhura asked, turning her chair.

"Page Kam… uh, Yeoman Kamira and see why she is late," he said, stumbling with his words. Yeoman came out as a question instead of a statement. He knew that she wanted to blend in with the crew more… would she be mad at that title?

His lips tingled, and he brushed a finger over them, trying not to grin.

He knew it was a moment of weakness for both of them – which they would both deny and ignore that it ever happened, but it didn't keep him from thinking about it anyways.

And his talk with Spock even heightened those feelings, making him stressed. For the first time, he wasn't certain about a girl; about what he wanted, other than a few fun nights together.

"Captain?" Uhura broke his train of thought.

"Yes?"

"She's not answering… but I just sent a security officer to her room."

Kirk nodded, frowning.

Was she already starting a silent treatment? She had to know she couldn't be holed up in there forever. He sighed, and looked back at the window.

He always enjoyed the streams of light that occurred during warp. They had received a Starfleet message about a new found planet; dangerous due to its gaseous environment, and the fact that half of the planet was covered in acid water. However there were signs of life, hence their next mission, and their new location.

The doors to the bridge slid open.

"Permission aboard Sir?"

"Granted, what's the news?" Kirk said, turning his chair, a smile on his face, expecting to see a nervous Kamira. But it was just the red shirt, looking nervous.

"She is not in her room, Captain. I even ran heat diagnostics, no one is in there. I checked the medical bay, cafeteria…"

Kirk stood up quickly.

"Chekov, open the comm to the whole ship, demand that she get here stat," he said, voice shaking.

"Captain," Sulu said.

"What?"

"Last night… I saw something on the radar-"

"What? What was it?" Kirk said. Sulu stayed silent, but Shea spoke up.

"Captain… there was an irregularity on the radar. Sulu said he saw a ship, but it disappeared. A comm was sent to engineering, but they are unsure what it was, maybe a glitch, they said."

"That is improbable, the system is pristine, especially the Bridge's system," Spock said, stepping forward.

"I'm just telling it like it is, Officer. There was a ship on the radar last night… and it disappeared."

Kirk, already dreading the worst and knowing it was probably true, stumbled to sit on the Captain's chair.

"Oh, shit," he muttered.

The Romulan had said he wouldn't be at peace until his revenge was fulfilled… he had taken her. The Romulan had boarded ITALIC his ITALIC ship, and took Kamira from him.

"We can stop the war. Chekov, please send the message to engineering," Spock stated.

Kirk sat in his chair, staring at a point on the spotless white floor.

"The Romulan's would not have been able to board without a disguise. Even some of the oldest models of the Starfleet uniforms have tracking devices. We will be able to search these trackers within a 700 mile radius once out of warp. If we have to travel back to our warp origin, then it can be done. Sulu, begin the tracking process now, initiate when we are out of warp."

"Will do, Officer," Sulu said and Shea and Chekov joined in, bending over their controls intently.

"Captain," Spock said.

Kirk took a deep breath, breaking his gaze of trance and looking to his First Officer.

"Yeah, Spock?"

"We need to inform Commander Pike immediately."

* * *

She had a searing headache, and groaned as she awoke.

She made a move to adjust her body, but felt that her arms were restrained.

Her heart started beating rapidly and her breathing got heavier.

"No, no, no!" she cried out, thrashing around.

A victim again.

She felt herself crying and let it happen. After everything that had happened on the Enterprise, how safe she felt… how comfortable she was…

To be ripped away from it so soon, to be thrust into the same predicament that led her to the Starfleet ship in the first place… she had a hard time believing it.

"Ah, she awakes!" she heard a laugh

She stopped struggling, and looked up at the face that gave her an occasional nightmare, the voice she felt repulsed by. Only known to her as the Romulan.

She was on a different ship than the one she was first held hostage in, she could tell by the crème walls as opposed to the dark grey. And she was on a bed; on the other ship they kept her locked up in a bathroom facility.

She looked around at the other faces around the Romulan; his crew had grown in size and diversity, crowding around the room and the doorway.

"Just get it over with!" she screamed, more tears streaming down her face.

He only laughed, the others joining in as they leered at her.

"No, my pet. What fun would that be?" the Romulan said, shaking his head.

* * *

_Dun Dun Duuuun! Shit's about to get real, guys._


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

"Thank god, Kirk, I was in the longest meeting with a cadet's mother… damn good brownies though," Pike muttered as he came on screen, wiping his mouth. Kirk was drumming his fingers on the armrest of the Captain's chair.

"Admiral… we have a situation."

Pike sighed heavily, almost grinning, shaking his head.

"What a surprise, lay it on me."

"The woman we rescued has been re-captured. We can only assume that it's the same group of Romulan's from the first time."

Pike frowned, and stayed silent for an uncomfortable while.

"Captain," he finally spoke, "Is this worth Starfleet time? Of course there is the question of security, but I can arrange myself some bounty hunters – friendly one's mind you, trained for finding people, to rescue the woman yet again-"

"Sir, Kamira doesn't have much time, the Romluan told me-"

"What did you just say?" Pike interrupted in a loud voice. Kirk drew back, surprised. The bridge fell silent.

"The Romulan told me-"

"No, what name did you say?"

"Kamira, sir-"

"Everyone-" Pike interrupted, and then cleared his throat, "everyone but the Captain and First Officer off the bridge."

Sulu looked at Chekov in the silence. Sulu only shrugged.

"Now!" the Admiral shouted, and the crew practically sprinted to the lift. It took two crammed lifts for them all to leave.

The door hissed closed, and Kirk turned back to the screen, Spock heading to Uhura's station to keep track of the channel.

"Admiral, is there something-"

"Are you sure her name is Kamira? Who are her parents?" he said hurriedly. He was leaning into the camera, actually whispering.

"Her name is Kamira, sir, but she was a foster child, never knew her birth parents."

Pike closed his eyes, and leant back in his chair.

"Admiral Pike, are you feeling ill?" Spock asked.

Pike shook his head and waved a shaky hand as though to shoo Spock's inquiry away.

"She has brown eyes, probably black hair?" Pike asked.

Kirk and Spock glanced at each other in surprise, before turning back to the screen. Kirk nodded slowly.

"Yes, sir. Can you please-"

"This information is never to be passed along until at my discretion, no matter what. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Admiral," Kirk and Spock said, in sync.

Pike sighed, rubbing his temples before looking at them.

"My wife and I had an illegitimate child when we were younger," he said.

He stopped, and took a deep breath before continuing. It was before we were married, and we both had dreams of Starfleet... so we decided to leave her at a foster home. Cassie wanted to name her Kamira, we left it on the note. It's a mix of her mother and sister's name. I never forgot it, sounded so weird but beautiful at the same time. It has to be her; there are no other citizens with that name. I check every month, in hope…"

Kirk stood there in shock. Spock just stood there with his usual still face.

"Close your mouth boy! Get serious, the entire situation has changed!"

"Believe me, Admiral, I know," Kirk replied, regaining his composure.

"What was that?" Pike said menacingly, and Kirk refrained from wincing.

Pike sounded like the first (and last) father of a fling he had met. Protective, angry, and irritable.

"Admiral, the Romulan, when we had him captive, he confessed that he was on a grudge mission, to kill the family of a Starfleet Officer that did him wrong…"

"Chor," Pike spat.

"Admiral, I know the emotional context of the situation, but us taking such action against a Romulan could start a war-" Spock started.

"Chor acts on his own, he's been exiled from Kronos after committing a, on more baisic terms, a massacre on the Romulans. Killing him will make no difference."

"He still has the right to fair trial Admiral, as stated in the-"

"I am making the order to bring Chor in dead or alive. Bring back my daughter _alive_, or so help me…"

"We will bring her back sir, don't doubt it."

Pike stared at Kirk, a more intimidating stare Kirk had ever gotten from his mentor, nonetheless through a screen.

"I trust you with this, Captain. Bring Kamira back to safety, understand?"

"Completely, sir," Kirk said.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

_"I trust you with this, Captain. Bring Kamira back to safety, understand?"_

_"Completely, sir," Kirk said._

* * *

Spock disconnected the line, and the projection disappeared into the stars seen through the bridge window.

"Holy shit," Kirk said breaking the silence, his voice giving a small echo throughout the empty bridge.

"Captain, this alters everything-"

"We… how are we supposed to go along with this? I mean the first time it was risky but this time… he has a new ship, probably a larger crew that he recruited in the prisoner colony… all with Kamira," Kirk faded off. He shook his head, almost stumbling towards his chair.

Spock frowned and then walked forward, hands behind his back.

"Captain, we now have a direct order from an Admiral, no less a father concerned for his daughter. This is of dire importance, and we will form the optimal plan of action."

"Spock, you know his intentions. Pike had something to do with Chor, something drastic enough to lead this Romulan on a crazy hunt across universes to get his revenge…"

"We arrived on time during our first success of rescue. We will additionally succeed the second time around," Spock said assuredly.

Kirk raised an eyebrow.

"I believe it is time to allow the crew return to the bridge, Captain."

"What are we gonna tell them? They're probably all dying to know what happened by now, why the Admiral kicked them all out."

"We will inform them the way the Admiral requested; it is classified."

* * *

"Captain, he's hailing us," Uhrua said.

"Bring it up."

During their talk with the Admiral, also known as Kamira's father, the ship had intercepted a signal – an uncommissioned Starfleet travel shuttle in use. Once the Enterprise appeared in range from warp, the shuttle had released a white flare in peace.

It had been silence for an hour before any activity, and there he was, on the main bridge comm, larger than life and ugly as ever.

"Captain Kirk," the Romulan said, sneering.

"Chor," Kirk spat.

The Romulan only smiled. Kirk looked down at his knuckles, once bruised from the man's face. They were itching for Chor again.

He heard a whimper and a yell, and looked up to find Kamira on screen with Chor, a knife to her throat and a phaser to her head, the light blinking red - meaning it was set to kill.

He stood up quickly, refraining from calling out her name. He was on the bridge, he had to stay composed.

"Smart man, it seems you have found this bitch's real father after all," Chor said. Kamira's eyes grew wide.

"Kirk, what is he saying?"

"You cease fire on me now, you stop chasing me, and leave me be forever, and I might just reconsider her life."

Kirk frowned, and Kamira spoke before he could.

"Jame- Captain, please, let me go; I can't deal with anyone getting hurt because of this."

Kirk clenched his hands into fists.

"You're lying," he said tensely, "you let slip your vengeance plan while we had you as prisoner."

Chor only smiled.

"The Captain's wit supersedes his reputation! I was hoping you were more intent on beating my face in with ill-placed anger than paying attention to what I was saying. At that point, you should know this is a win-lose situation. The bitch is right, let her go. Retreat now and never return; no one gets hurt."

"As Captain of the U.S.S Enterprise, I am placing you under arrest-"

Kamira cried out, and a generous drop of blood spilled out from under the blade against her neck, quickly running down her chest and soaking the fabric of her old shirt, the one she was found in; she used it for sleeping in, a shirt of her foster father.

"Don't test me, Captain."

"Kirk, please, let me go," Kamira whispered now, her eyes pleading.

"I am sending more officers as we speak to board your ship and detain you," Kirk continued, refraining from looking at her.

His voice was shaking.

"From then, you will undergo trial, and a sentence will be admitted. And since you know who her father his, you should know that we told him who currently has his daughter. I suspect you know what will come soon, if you resist or not…" Kirk bluffed.

Kamira had a look of angry surprise, glaring at Kirk, but then her face twisted and she let out a whimper, her face showing pain - he stopped talking.

"Kirk, please. I know… I don't… I don't want to but-" Kamira started, but Chor added pressure to the knife on her neck. The cut grew larger, and the blood flowed heavily, pouring down and covering her neck slowly, making her cry out in pain.

"Son of a bitch!" Kirk screamed out.

Everybody grew silent on both ends.

Kirk stood there, tense, his hands in fists, breathing heavily. He looked away from the equally shocked faces on the screen, trying not to notice Kamira's wet eyes.

"Spock!" he yelled out.

"Captain, may I recommend-"

"The bridge is yours."

He turned and left the bridge, walking quickly without running towards the lift keeping his gaze to the ground. As soon as the door slid closed, he let out a yell and punched the wall as hard has he could, bruising his knuckles and breaking the skin on his hand.

* * *

"James?!"

Kamira's eyes grew wide as she searched the screen for where he went… but he was gone. Spock began to speak, but Kamira wasn't hearing it.

James broke his resolve as a Captain, yelling out like that… and then he left her and his crew. And he knew who her father was? How the hell did he find out?

Chor let out a small laugh from behind her. She tried not to make a face as his breath reached her nose.

"I will give you exactly twelve hours to make your decision, interim Captain. It seems you need to re-group. I have some tinkering to perform on the torpedoes anyways. I will hail you when I am ready for your answer."

The line cut out, and Chor threw Kamira down to the floor.

She hated it, but she started crying as she gripped her throat and covered the wound with her hands, trying to halt the blood flow. Her old Starfleet uniform was a darker red in the neckline, sticking to her skin.

She was grabbed by someone else; dragged, kicking and screaming to her room. She was thrown on the bed, feeling lightheaded as she still grasped at her throat and continued sobbing.

James knew who her father was.

And she didn't know she was pushing her real feelings away until he saw him on that screen, fighting for composure as he talked to Chor - but stared at her. That feeling of need to see him again, in person, pushed through her fear.

"Stop that nonsense, and let me clean the wound," she heard a deep voice snap at her.

She caught her breath in surprise, and looked up.

He was human enough, all except for the bright grey eyes. She nodded, and sat up, attempting to keep her breath even, bust still shaking as she held on to her throat.

He had a bucket of water, a cloth, and a green tube of cream. He knelt down in front of the bed as he started to clean her wound, her neck and chest with the wet cloth. She kept her face tight, not wanting to show how much it hurt.

"You can show pain, you're only human after all," he muttered, wringing the now deep red cloth into the bucket before applying more pressure to clean her neck again. She still kept her face still, though she was straining.

"And what are you?" she asked, looking at him straight on. His eyes turned color, from the bright grey to a light teal. She couldn't help but gasp.

"Something more. Now hold still, this stuff dries quickly and I don't want to get it all over my hands."

"What is it?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow, but shrugged as he uncapped the tube of cream.

"It's a wound sealer. It'll sting at first, but it will help that cut heal quickly."

"Thank you," she muttered.

He quirked an eyebrow before he nodded and he brought the tube to her throat, applying the cream. It did sting a little, like he had warned, but she heard a hiss and the pain was quickly evaporating.

"He's a short-tempered man, be careful," he whispered before standing up and leaving.

She took a shaky breath and lay down, gently touching the hardened cream on her throat.

* * *

There was an indicator bell, telling him someone wanted to come in. Kirk sighed, downing the rest of his glass of Scotch before walking over to the door and pressing a button to open it.

Uhura stood there, her hands twitching. She looked him up and down, and sighed.

"I thought you might need-" she started, but Kirk walked back to the desk where he was drinking and sat back down, pouring his glass full, his bottle almost finished.

She walked in, taking a seat across from him.

"It's not going to help Kamira if you sit here getting drunk."

"It seems I've never been able to help her," he muttered, taking a big gulp of his drink.

Uhura grabbed the glass out of his hands and took a sip herself, coughing and making a twisted face as she swallowed. She held onto the glass, and took the bottle away from him as well.

"And that is where you are wrong. _We're_ all working hard on the bridge, trying to form a plan to get her back. And we could use someone like you to help. You're known for successful yet conniving plans."

He shook his head.

"He's on a vengeance path. Nothing will be able to stop him."

Uhura shook her head.

"Wrong yet again. You got to her before, you can do it again."

Kirk shook his head, grinning at her and Spock's connection; they had basically told him the same thing.

"A bigger ship, bigger crew, probably bigger weapons-"

"Since when are you so easy to give up on something, and recently, no less some_one_?"

Kirk looked up at her, and didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought. Now, Captain, we have only so much time; Chor gave us twelve hours, you've managed to waste four of them," she said, standing up, keeping the bottle tucked under her arm, the glass in her hand, "Get to the Med bay for a Banana Bag, and maybe come to the bridge and do your job. Make a plan to save the girl that put those wounds on your knuckles," she said, moving her eyes to his fresh knuckle wounds.

She raised an eyebrow, and left.

Kirk sighed, and reached for his glass before he realized it was gone. He clenched his bruised and bleeding hand, and sighed.

* * *

Kirk entered the Bridge quickly and sat in the chair before he heard a Yeoman announce his entrance. Uhrua came up to him, smiling with crossed arms.

"You actually listened. She's changing you more than I thought," she said softly before turning and walking back to her station.

Spock then approached.

"Good to see you Captain."

"Any news?" Kirk asked.

The Banana Bag, an old time cure for hangover's and general drunkeness, had actually helped. The cold shower also gave him a quick refreshing.

"There are a few plans, though each of them contains one certain flaw."

"Which is…?"

Spock took a second before answering.

"They have high probabilities of Kamira's demise. Along with fellow comrades, Chor, and his men."

Kirk's eyebrows furrowed.

"Any changes that could get rid of that probability?"

"Not _yet_, Captain."


End file.
